THE ILLINOIZE: ICU crisis in southern Illinois...Remap lawsuit continues...Energy bill update...Another Deputy Governor steps down
August 24, 2021
Good morning.
Now that the FDA has given full approval to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, expect to see and hear a lot about mandates from governments and businesses that employees must be vaccinated.
Just yesterday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said city employees will be required to receive the vaccine. But don’t be surprised if it leads to some more labor wars for the Mayor. The leader of the Chicago Police Union came out fully opposed last night. And, obviously, the Chicago Teachers Union would fight Lightfoot if she asked people to tie their shoes.
I’ve also heard some anecdotes that there is a fear among some southern Illinois employers, from warehouses to hospitals, that they’ll have staff shortages if they require employees to get vaccinated.
I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t risk my livelihood over this.
Don’t forget, we’re still running a special on our yearly subscriptions. We’re able to dedicate enough time to this venture because of your support.
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Let’s get to it.
ICU CRISIS IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
Increasing COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations are causing a crisis for some southern Illinois hospitals to find available ICU beds for seriously ill patients.
New numbers released by the Illinois Department of Public Health yesterday showed exactly one (yes, 1, one, un, ein) available ICU bed in the entire 20-county Region 5 in the Governor’s Restore Illinois plan.
Bart Hagston, Administrator of the Jackson County Health Department, which includes Carbondale and Murphysboro, says the dearth of available ICU beds has a negative impact throughout the region.
“This means that those who are in critical need of intensive care may not be able to receive it in a timely fashion, or may have to be transported to a hospital far away, assuming an ICU bed can be found elsewhere,” Hagston said. “Situations like this also have significant ripple effects on other patients. Hospitals have to focus more of their resources on ICU patients, meaning staff are less available to serve chronically ill patients, perform surgeries and other services the public relies upon. Entire communities are impacted, [not] just not those who contract COVID-19.”
Yesterday, Southern Illinois Healthcare posted this graphic about their current COVID hospitalizations. It isn’t good.
As of Friday, COVID test positivity in the southern Illinois region is 11.2%. The region has had between 325-550 positive cases each day since August 16.
REMAP LAWSUIT CONTINUES
A federal judge left both Republicans and Democrats disappointed yesterday with two separate decisions on the lawsuit challenging the Democratic-drawn legislative maps.
The order, issued by Judge Robert Dow, chose not to go along with Republicans’ request to throw out the Democratic maps, which didn’t use census data as the basis for population figures. The judge also chose not to go along with Democrats’ hopes to dismiss the case.
The legislature is planning a return to Springfield next week to fix population deviation issues in the map which exceeded the 10% maximum generally allowed under the law. If Democrats fix the map next week, Republicans will likely change their argument in trial, which could come as early as the end of September, that Democrats are not legally allowed to make changes to the map after the June 30 constitutional deadline to enact maps.
As part of the ruling Monday, Judge Dow told Democrats to keep arguments from Republicans and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) under consideration:
“The panel also reiterates the comments made on the record urging the General Assembly to take into account the views of the Plaintiffs in crafting any amended plan with the objective of presenting for the Court's consideration a plan that satisfies all constitutional and statutory obligations, not just those raised in the existing pleadings and motions.”
Translation: don’t screw this up again.
Meanwhile, the House and Senate Redistricting committees have scheduled 7 public hearings between Thursday and Sunday on an amended map. (By the way, it’s Tuesday morning and we haven’t seen a map, so it’s not like interested parties will have tons of time to break down data.)
A couple of the meetings will have an in-person component:
Thursday at 1pm at the Bilandic Building in Chicago
Friday at 10:00am at IBEW Local 309 in Collinsville (House only)
Friday at noon in the Will County Board Room in Joliet (Senate only)
Saturday at 10:00am the Peoria Riverfront Museum
Saturday at 3pm at the SIU Student Center in Carbondale (Senate only)
Sunday at 10am at the Phillips Park Visitors Center in Aurora (House only)
If you need any more specific details, please drop me a note at patrick@theillinoize.com.)
ENERGY BILL UPDATE
A long day of negotiations on a long-stalled energy bill were reportedly productive yesterday, going into the evening and are planned to pick up again today.
Green energy supporters and Governor JB Pritzker have been adamantly opposed to keeping coal-fired power plants, like the Prairie State no Energy plant in southern Illinois, online any longer than necessary. Unions, backed by Senate President Don Harmon, have continually pushed back on the potential loss of hundreds to even thousands of jobs in economically distressed areas.
I don’t have any real specifics on where talks left off last night, other than a positive inclination from the folks I talked to. You may remember when we talked to Jennifer Walling of the Illinois Environmental Council last week, she said there’s a big deadline August 31st to start distributing money that had been held back for renewable energy projects.
Add Exelon’s threats to close nuclear plants in Byron and near Morris, there’s a big push to have this done when the General Assembly returns next week.
If I get any other details today, I’ll let subscribers know ASAP.
DEPUTY GOV RUIZ STEPS DOWN
One of Governor JB Pritzker’s top advisers on education has stepped down.
Deputy Governor Jesse Ruiz had his last day on the job yesterday. He’s a former Interim CEO of Chicago Public Schools and former Chairman of the Chicago Park District Board.
“Jesse is always thinking about the bright young people for whom education serves as a launching path to a brighter future,” Pritzker said in announcing the departure at a press conference in Urbana yesterday.
Ruiz was also the target of angry protests in front of his house last fall by parents and students upset at the cancellation of high school football season.
Pritzker Chief of Staff Anne Caprara tweeted praise for Ruiz yesterday handled the most challenging days of the pandemic “with a smile on his face and a box of donuts for everyone.”
Ruiz, an attorney, told the Chicago Sun-Times he is planning to return to private practice.
HAPPY BIRTHDAYS
Thursday: Former John Shimkus spokesman turned hospital flak Steve Tomaszewski, former Raunerite and Cor Strategies alum Jeff Wilhite, now with Sangamon County government
Friday: Former State Senator, candidate for Governor, and current Mayor of Evanston Daniel Biss, former Senate GOP Communications Director Amy Barry, who was always nicer to me than my antics warranted when I worked for SGOP, now with the Illinois Hospital Association
Sunday: Former Senator Steve Rauschenberger (65!)
Monday: Former Statehouse reporter turned talk show host Ben Yount
By the way, I don’t think my list is in any way complete, so shoot me birthdays and notable stuff to patrick@theillinoize.com.
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