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Isabel’s morning briefing

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* ICYMI: Officials investigating death of migrant child staying at Chicago shelter. Tribune…

* Related stories…

∙ Sun-Times Editorial Board: City’s migrant shelter program needs overhaul after 5-year-old’s death
∙ CBS: More sick migrants, worries about conditions at Chicago shelter where a 5-year-old died

* Isabel’s top picks…

* Capitol News Illinois | Public health officials urge caution around respiratory illnesses: IDPH issued a health alert last week to hospitals, long-term care facilities and local health departments advising the use of masks and using screening techniques to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses, particularly in areas of the state with elevated levels of COVID-19 hospitalizations.

* Shaw Local | Why some congressional candidates could get kicked off the March primary ballot: Four congressional candidates running for seats serving the North, West and Northwest suburbs could be kept off the March 2024 primary ballot if formal complaints about their nominating petitions are upheld. A fifth candidate facing a petition objection said he’ll drop out rather than fight the challenge.

* WBEZ | A Cook County state’s attorney candidate once helped convict a boy whose murder confession was found to be coerced: In 1994, assistant state’s attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke helped win a guilty finding on a first-degree murder charge against the boy, known only as “A.M.” The interrogation took place without a parent or police youth officer present. It also took place without an attorney for A.M. and without video recording — steps now required by state law.

* Here’s the rest of your morning roundup…

* Shaw Local | Weitzel to discuss pros and cons of the SAFE-T Act at January forum: “There is no argument about the act. The Illinois Supreme Court has upheld it, it is the law and we must deal with it. During the public forum, I plan to discuss the SAFE-T Act, how it came to be and its effects on police operations and overall public safety. I strongly advocate for having an independent auditor monitor the SAFE-T Act bond procedure in the court systems in Cook County and throughout the state.”

* Patch | 20 New Illinois Laws That Could Change Your Life In 2024: Employees of any local government entity, board of election commissioners or any private employer in Illinois with 51 or more employees will receive up to 10 days of paid leave in any 12-month period to serve as an organ donor. (HB 3516)

* Tribune | High schools in Blue Island, Crestwood embrace solar energy. Will it be as advertised?: Now, south suburban Chicago is reaping more benefits. The two schools in High School District 218 are in their first month of relying on solar energy following a monthslong installation process provided through the program. […] While yet to be seen, the transition to solar comes with the promise that such a move will reduce the schools’ energy bill by 90%.

* WTTW | Chicago’s Natural Gas Pipeline Project Halted Amid Push for Cleaner Energy Investments: “The ICC defied federal safety regulators, their own engineering study, and all common sense when they put a sudden, complete halt to construction work that everyone agrees is needed for the sake of safety and reliability in Chicago’s heating system,” says Marc Poulos, executive director of the nonprofit Indiana-Illinois-Iowa Foundation for Fair Contracting.

* Sun-Times | Chicago police supervisor retires while facing demotion for failing to respond to fatal crash involving off-duty cop: Despite the serious — and potentially criminal — nature of the crash, Melean didn’t show up to assume control of the scene as required by a departmental order, according to law enforcement sources. That means he didn’t notify the Bureau of Internal Affairs, so no one from the department came to administer a Breathalyzer test to the other officer.

* WBEZ | Two former lifeguards sue the Chicago Park District, saying they suffered sexual abuse when they were minors: The cases filed in Cook County Circuit Court on Monday could add to the legal tab from the sexual misconduct scandal for the park district — which already has paid out nearly $2 million to three other female lifeguards who have sued or threatened to take the taxpayer-funded agency to court.

* Capitol News Illinois | Capitol News Illinois, ProPublica to continue award-winning reporting partnership: ProPublica announced the addition of five new partner newsrooms and local journalists to its Local Reporting Network, including another two-year partnership with Capitol News Illinois. Through the partnership, CNI reporter Molly Parker will serve as an LRN fellow, co-publishing investigations with the two news outlets.

* AP | Thousands of lights at Chicago Botanic Garden illuminate tunnels, lilies and art: More than 22 light installations by various local and international artists light a path through established gardens that snake around the Great Basin in the core of the garden’s 385 acres. Highlights of the experience include passing through the “Electric Ribbon Tunnel” created by Culture Creative; “Sea of Light,” created by UK artist Ithaca, which has 4,800 individually controlled balls of LED light; “Lilies,” by UK artist Jigantics, with 22 illuminated 5-foot (1.5-meter) lilies that float in and around the darkness of the Great Basin; and “Laser Lake,” projecting a rainbow of light dancing across the Great Basin.

* Tribune | Thursday is the shortest day of the year. Here’s what the winter solstice means for Chicago.: “The winter solstice has a pretty firm connection to astronomy,” said Hunter Miller, public observing educator at the Adler Planetarium. “There’s a whole lot of stuff going on out in space to explain what’s happening here on Earth.” The winter solstice is the moment the Northern Hemisphere is tilted farthest from the sun at about 23 degrees, Miller said. It’s easiest to understand, he said, if you imagine looking at Earth from far away and there’s a big stick that goes through the North and South poles.

* Sun-Times | Popular MeTV horror movie host Svengoolie brings on sidekicks (and possible successors): Rich Koz, who’s been keeping the grandly eccentric tradition of the horror movie host alive on the Chicago TV fixture “Svengoolie” for decades, needed a hand — preferably an undead one. Koz, who plays the wisecracking, endearingly cheesy horror host, was tasked with filling 30 extra minutes of airtime when executives at Weigel Broadcasting’s flagship station MeTV expanded his show from two to two and a half hours.

* AP | Minnesota panel chooses new state flag featuring North Star to replace old flag seen as racist: The star echoes Minnesota’s state motto of “Star of the North.” The commission’s chairman, Luis Fitch, said that to him, the light blue represents the Mississippi River, “the most important river in the United States,” pointing to the North Star. But he acknowledged it could mean other things to other people. Symmetry and simplicity won out over other versions, including ones that included a green stripe for the state’s agricultural heritage.

* AP | States are trashing troves of masks and pandemic gear as huge, costly stockpiles linger and expire: A New York state-run veterans’ home was so deluged by PPE deliveries in early 2021 that it stashed them under tarps in a parking lot. By the time a warehouse was arranged four months later, between $560,000 and $1.6 million of supplies were too damaged to use — and cost another $21,000 to incinerate, according to a state inspector general’s office report. Another $779,000 in expired items have been discarded.

posted by Isabel Miller
Wednesday, Dec 20, 23 @ 7:49 am

Comments

And even with states trashing excess masks, cases of COVID and other respiratory illnesses (including RSV and the flu) are going back up. As usual in the winter including pre pandemic.

Both Springfield hospitals are responding by limiting each patient to two visitors at a time, 18 years and older, and must be healthy.

https://www.sj-r.com/story/news/healthcare/2023/12/20/hospitals-are-making-changes-to-curb-spread-of-respiratory-illnesses/71976601007/

Comment by Stuck in Celliniland Wednesday, Dec 20, 23 @ 8:08 am
Minnesota’s old flag needed to go, but the new one (and most of the other ones I saw submitted) is a snooze. I like our flag and have no idea why the governor thinks it needs replacement.

Comment by lake county democrat Wednesday, Dec 20, 23 @ 8:10 am
Man, it is taking longer and longer to go through the morning and afternoon briefings because Isabel puts together such a fantastic list of must-reads. Thank you, Isabel!

Had no idea that Svengoolie got lengthened. Kind of makes me happy, to be honest, that local cultural touchstones like that can still get support.

Comment by Blitz Wednesday, Dec 20, 23 @ 9:14 am
===I like our flag ===

Please. Nobody says this.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Dec 20, 23 @ 9:37 am
Not sure what happened to Andrea Guthmann in this Peoples Gas/ICC story. She allowed an Industry group who’s working hard to support the gas company to write a large portion of the story with a fear-mongering quote which she made no attempt to clarify and/or correct. She added a “balancing” quote from CUB which in no way addressed the statements made about safety and reliability. It’s my understanding that the ICC pointed out that the removal of $ from expanded work and excessive profits must not effect safety and reliability. The IIIFFC needs to stick to the good work it does to ensure fair contracts for workers and not shill for the greedy utilities.

Comment by Jimbo2 Wednesday, Dec 20, 23 @ 9:47 am
My sibs and I went to the Botanic Garden’s Lightscape the first year they had it, and it is marvelous. I really do recommend it.

Comment by JoanP Wednesday, Dec 20, 23 @ 9:50 am
The Eileen O’Neill Burke story should disqualify her in the minds of voters.

She herself was complicit in a crime: railroading an innocent Black child. Imagine the trauma she helped inflict on that child.

Her statement to WBEZ offers no contrition, which is another huge red flag about her character.

Comment by Moe Berg Wednesday, Dec 20, 23 @ 9:53 am
== ===I like our flag ===

I do as well. The slogan “State Sovereignty, National Union” has Civil War echos and the eagle with the shield speaks to the large volunteer force from Illinois during that horrific conflict.

Comment by low level Wednesday, Dec 20, 23 @ 9:58 am
===I do as well===

If that was a widely felt emotion, then we’d see people hanging that flag on their front porches, or putting stickers of it on their cars.

Face it, our flag is blah. The state is getting something of a reboot, so we ought to reboot our flag design as well.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Dec 20, 23 @ 10:29 am
It’s in the news items on the side, so I’m curious. Any bets as to whether someone will try and pull a Colorado in the ILSC and get Trump knocked off the ballot?

Comment by Former ILSIP Wednesday, Dec 20, 23 @ 11:02 am
Re: Shaw Local story on Weitzel

Weitzel is giving a speech about what’s wrong with the SAFE-T Act. The only “pros” he lists are presented as cons.

So come on out and let him rehash the politics of it all over again.

Comment by H-W Wednesday, Dec 20, 23 @ 11:04 am
I see a lot of people with tattoos featuring the City of Chicago flag. I have yet to see one featuring the State of Illinois flag.

Comment by City Guy Wednesday, Dec 20, 23 @ 11:24 am
The state flag is in the category sneered at by vexologists called state seal on a sheet.

Chicago’s flag is iconic and has the advantage, per vexologists, of being able to be discerned and identified from a distance. So you can recognize the ships of Chicago’s navy without having to be too close.

Comment by cermak_rd Wednesday, Dec 20, 23 @ 11:34 am
==If that was a widely felt emotion==

And that’s fair as well. I can only speak for myself.

Comment by low level Wednesday, Dec 20, 23 @ 11:35 am
CTU made a big to-do about the Mayor and CPS’ language about moving away from school privatization. Bien. Then why privatize shelter operations and provide such little oversight? This administration is all platitudes and zero execution. Reboot, mayor. Reboot.

Comment by pragmatist Wednesday, Dec 20, 23 @ 11:36 am
The current Illinois state flag is boring, very 19th century, and contains a prominent date (1868) which is largely archaic.

Comment by PIUS Wednesday, Dec 20, 23 @ 11:37 am
==CTU made a big to-do about the Mayor and CPS’ language about moving away from school privatization.==

It’s the media who made the big to-do about it. Much like the famed financial transaction tax that never happened/existed.

Comment by supplied_demand Wednesday, Dec 20, 23 @ 12:09 pm
– It’s the media who made the big to-do about it. Much like the famed financial transaction tax that never happened/existed. –

The mayor ran on the financial transactions tax. Then, he hedged after he won. Fine. Politicians do that. The resolution combining privatization and charter schools with selective enrollment was an unforced error. Janice Jackson called them out on it for taking an ideological approach. This was happening at the same time the mayor was relying on a private contractor to run/manage a shelter, and his allies were passing a resolution on Israel. This isn’t even about keeping an eye on the ball. This administration isn’t even in the batter’s box. I’m going to pull a Rauner line: Focus, Brandon, Focus.

Comment by pragmatist Wednesday, Dec 20, 23 @ 12:41 pm
Migrant grief is not less than ours.

Comment by Dotnonymous x Wednesday, Dec 20, 23 @ 1:35 pm