THE ILLINOIZE: Mixed messages on United Center vaccines...State says kids should be learning in person...GOP gubernatorial candidates will have to tiptoe Trump...Get me an Old Style

March 9, 2021

Good morning.

I asked on Facebook yesterday how your experience has gone trying to get a vaccine appointment. I’d love to get your feedback. Click here.

I know folks around the state continue to be frustrated at the slow rollout of the vaccine, but the state is also starting to improve its infrastructure to help get more needles in arms ASAP.

Here’s to hoping it picks up more everyday.

Speaking of vaccines…

Let’s get into it.

UNITED CENTER CONFUSION

There’s still a ton of confusion as to why the state announced late Sunday the new United Center mass vaccination site would be limited to only residents of the city of Chicago.

The state’s release Sunday quoted the FEMA Region 5 Director in which he all but stated the agency was going along with state and local officials.

But yesterday, Governor JB Pritzker said it was FEMA who asked for the change.

“Well, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, on Friday, decided that they wanted to change the process.,” Pritzker said. “They wanted to limit to the people who live in the City of Chicago, who met all of our ‘1-B+’ requirements, so, including comorbidities, people over 65, and frontline workers, et cetera. They wanted to change the criteria to only be about certain ZIP codes within the City of Chicago, because they wanted a greater focus on equity.“

But, legislative sources say that may not be the case. We’re told by some Democrats that there was pressure on the Governor from inside the city of Chicago that too many appointments were being “gobbled” up by suburbanites and downstaters.

It appears there’s more to this than meets the eyes. Here’s our whole story this morning. What do you think?

THE IN-PERSON LEARNING HEDGE

Illinois State Superintendent of Schools Dr. Carmen Ayala said yesterday what we all probably already know: kids should be in school, learning in person.

But, there was a but.

Ayala said the situation requires it is “absolutely safe to do so.”

But, there’s another but.

What does “absolutely safe” mean? Is it “absolutely safe” now? If not, what are those metrics?

Nobody on the committee asked Ayala about the unclear metrics and an ISBE spokesperson did not return our message last night.

Ayala did say, though, that 90% of school districts in the state are in school either with a hybrid system or fully in-person learning.

Here’s our story on her comments yesterday.

HOW GOP CANDIDATES WILL TIPTOE TRUMP

I’ve often said, the rural Republican in Illinois has changed.

I worked GOP primaries in downstate Illinois, either for State Senate, State Representative, or Congress in 2012, 2016, 2018, and 2020.

It used to be when you talked to Republican primary voters downstate, they wanted their candidates to be two things: pro-life and pro-gun.

But as now-former President Donald Trump took hold of the GOP, the questions turned into “do you support Trump?” and “will you defend Trump?” I lost a race last year to a candidate who carried around a Trump purse.

Seriously.

There are five Republicans running for, or thinking about running for, Governor next year. They’re going to have to balance placating strongly pro-Trump voters in the primary without scaring off suburban moms in the General Election.

How do they do that?

Very carefully. Read more here.

BASEBALL, Y’ALL

You probably saw that Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced yesterday she would allow 8,122 fans at Guaranteed Rate Field beginning on opening day, while 8,274 fans will be allowed per game at Wrigley Field.

Those of you who know me know I went to my first Cubs game at Wrigley Field when I was 5 and usually live and die with each pitch, which leads to a lot of heartache during a 162-game season.

There’s a lot of things this farm kid from downstate doesn’t love about the suburbs, but being close to Wrigley is one of the perks. Looking forward to getting a little back to normal this spring and summer.

BY THE WAY: What do you call 8,100 fans at Guaranteed Rate Field?

Nobody knows, there have never been that many people there at once.

Zing! Go Cubs. (Also, my beef is with that group of red chickens in St. Louis.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Rep. Blaine Wilhour celebrates a birthday tomorrow.

Former Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., former Sen. Dan Duffy, and former Sen. Matt Murphy celebrate on Thursday.

ONE LAST THING…

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