THE ILLINOIZE: Monday Free for All
November 22, 2021
Good morning and happy Monday.
Just a quick note on something I got wrong in Thursday’s Free for All.
When discussing the Kyle Rittenhouse case, I mentioned it happened during the violence in Kenosha following the George Floyd killing. That was my mistake. It happened during protests, riots, and violence in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
I wasn’t trying to minimize the incident that led to the protests and violence that came along with it. Obviously, the trial was related to a separate incident and that’s what I was focused on.
I apologize for the error.
We’ll do one more newsletter this week for tomorrow and I’ll give you an idea of our plan while I take a step back in the month of December to be a present and involved first time dad. We have a great group of guest newsletter writers who will offer thoughtful perspectives from the left and right.
I’d love to hear your tips about how to avoid political discussions on Thanksgiving or any great horror stories about turkey legs being thrown by the socialist girlfriend your nephew brought home from college that year. We’ll share your tips and stories tomorrow. Send them to me at patrick@theillinoize.com.
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Let’s get to it.
YOUR MONDAY FREE FOR ALL
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3 months into the school year, Illinois superintendents are still asking for control (Belleville News-Democrat)
Tensions between some local school administrators and Illinois education officials have been high for much of the school year. Over the summer, 160 signed a petition advocating for local control when, just two months before the school year started, the Illinois State Board of Education still had not released COVID-19 guidance for schools.
Ultimately, Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued an executive order requiring masks be worn in schools.
On Thursday, many commended [State Superintendent Carmen] Ayala for the conversation they had earlier this month about concerns over local control, specifically for COVID-19 safety mitigations, like masks, contact tracing and student quarantines and isolations.
“We’ve gone from not feeling like we were being heard to feeling more like a partnership,” said Clinton CUSD 15 Superintendent Curt Nettles.
Many of the decisions that frustrated local control advocates — specifically universal mask mandates — were not decisions made by Ayala or the Illinois State Board of Education, but Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health.
But, while the administrators who spoke indicated they felt their relationship with Ayala and the board had improved with the meeting, they also noted that tensions about mask requirements and other COVID mitigations were beginning to rise again among families, staff, and within local school boards.
“There’s a growing divide in our communities,” Mount Pulaski CUSD 23 Superintendent Fred Lamkey said. “Most superintendents have done nothing but try to hold their community together.”
Related: Under 5% of 5-to 11-year-olds have been vaccinated in Kankakee County (Kankakee Daily-Journal)
Latest COVID-19 stats for Illinois show dramatic increase in cases across the state (Belleville News-Democrat)
HSHS, Memorial Health staffers must choose between COVID-19 vaccine, jobs (Decatur Herald & Review)
Chicago casino site could be selected in ‘early 2022’ (Chicago Tribune)
Chicago officials Friday laid out a process of community input and quick City Council approval of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s preferred casino plan, saying all five bids are on equal footing despite community opposition to one and questions about state financing for another.
Lightfoot plans to select the operator and location of a Chicago casino in “early 2022,” officials said.
The new details on Lightfoot’s selection process come as the city is sifting through five proposals for a Chicago casino.
Hard Rock International wants to break into Chicago with a casino just west of Soldier Field, in the wildly ambitious, still-theoretical One Central development.
Bally’s has submitted two essentially identical, $1.6 billion proposals at two sites to build a Chicago casino.
One is the McCormick Place Truck Marshaling Yard, a 28-acre parking lot south of McCormick Place.
The other proposed Bally’s site is the 30-acre Freedom Center site, which was acquired in 2019 by Dallas-based Nexstar Media Group as part of its $4.1 billion purchase of Tribune Media.
Chicago-based Rush Street Gaming, which owns four casinos, including Rivers Casino Des Plaines — the top-grossing venue in Illinois — has partnered with two developers on separate proposals to build a Chicago casino.
Related: Chicago has five competing casino bids. Here’s a look at what’s proposed, and where. (Chicago Tribune)
Behind the dollars: Who has the best hand in the Chicago casino dealing? (Chicago Sun-Times)
Opinion: Representative democracy? Nope. (Crain’s Chicago Business)
We’re supposed to live in a representative democracy, wherein we elect officials to make policy and act on our behalf. But every 10 years, the ruling political leaders act on their own behalf when they draw new boundaries for districts. This topic might seem dull, but it can affect whether and how you receive government services, how much you pay in taxes, the response you see to crime and the COVID-19 pandemics, schooling and every other public policy matter. It plays a strong role in whether we will have competitive choices when we vote for the next 10 years.
So, now that remapping is wrapping up in Illinois, reviewing what happened with state House and Senate districts should be instructive.
Those maps recently were declared unconstitutional by a three-judge federal panel. In its ruling, that judicial panel noted the litany of complaints about the lack of open, meaningful dialogue about district drawing. Lawmakers knew their maps built on population estimates wouldn’t hold up, so they approved a second set of maps in late August using actual population data. The version 2.0 maps were sped through the legislative process by new House Speaker Chris Welch and fairly new Senate President Don Harmon in six days, with even less meaningful public engagement.
First-term Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who repeatedly had campaigned on a promise to reject partisan maps, quickly signed the state House and Senate maps into law, claiming they reflected Illinois’ diverse population.
And yet, these maps are the subject of lawsuits by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the NAACP of East St. Louis, the Illinois State Conference of the NAACP and the United Congress of Community and Religious Organizations, as well as the Illinois Republican Party.
After lawmakers ignored their constituents this year, let’s hope the court will re-enfranchise communities of color, though that still won’t fix lawmakers working in the shadows to serve themselves instead of the people.
Here's the key to EV adoption in Illinois (Crain’s Chicago Business)
If Gov. J.B. Pritzker wants the number of electric cars on Illinois roads to soar to 1 million from 33,000 by 2030, he’ll have to assure drivers that tapped-out batteries won’t leave them stranded on a lonely stretch of highway.
“How do we deal with the range anxiety so people know if they buy this car, if I want to go from Rockford to Carbondale, I can get that done?” asks Christian Mitchell, Illinois' deputy governor.
The answer is charging stations, and lots of them, along Illinois roadways. Experts estimate tens of thousands will be needed to support widespread use of electric-powered vehicles in Illinois.
Illinois has about 900 public charging stations, according to the Department of Energy. That’s in line with peer states, such as Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, but a fraction of California’s 13,564.
I would argue the infrastructure is a pivotal part growing EV use in the state, as it will be imperative to be able to get from the city or suburbs downstate and back (or vice versa) in a day without losing hours to charge up at a gas station.
The other part will be price. A new base level Tesla Model 3 prices out around $40,000 with an estimated mileage of around 265. It’s 280 miles round trip from the University of Illinois campus in Champaign to Wrigley Field and back.
The “Performance” model gets you about 315 miles, but the cost goes up to around $55,000.
So better batteries and better economy in cost will be key moving forward. Remember, it’s not financially possible for many people around the state to going out to buy a new $55,000 or $40,000 car.
Tracing Howard Buffett's law enforcement qualifications and the scrutiny on donations (Decatur Herald & Review)
On paper, at least, former Macon County Sheriff Howard Buffett appeared well-qualified to be a law enforcement officer.
The Herald & Review is in possession of a binder packed with 38 pages outlining Buffett’s police training and certifications before he was appointed sheriff in 2017 to fill the vacancy of retiring sheriff Thomas Schneider.
But it has now been revealed that none of that was enough to satisfy the state’s requirements of the training standards necessary to be a sworn law enforcement officer in Illinois.
The executive inspector general’s office — the state government watchdog — found that Brent Fischer, executive director of the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, acted wrongly in granting Buffett a law enforcement certification to be a police officer.
A report from the inspector general said Buffett, the philanthropist who heads his namesake Howard G. Buffett Foundation, had earmarked $15 million to build the Macon County Law Enforcement Training Center, an ILETSB facility that opened in 2017 in Decatur, and had been asked for a $10,000 check to pay for canine training equipment.
Within hours of the training board acknowledging receipt of the check in January 2019, an emailed letter from Fischer was sent granting a request from a Buffett supporter for a waiver on completing standard law enforcement training requirements.
Related: Deputy who stopped attack on officer at southern Illinois courthouse ‘saved lives’ (Belleville News-Democrat)
Opinion: Hulu’s ‘Being Blago’ charts the rise, fall and next chapter of Illinois’ disgraced ex-governor. He’s a more interesting guy than you may think (Chicago Tribune)
The question isn’t who, or what, but why. Why is Rod Blagojevich?
Why does our most recent disgraced ex-governor continue to make improbably interesting television, as evidenced by Hulu’s four-part documentary “Being Blago”?
Judging from “Being Blago,” which runs about two and a half hours, the man remains liked by many, partly because he’s so transparent in his needs. He tells himself and the world he’s through with politics, though always leaving a window or a door open. Even though he knows his wife, Patti, will leave him (she says so, plainly, on camera) if he reenters that sphere.
He needs, as he says, “a second act.” He has a persecution complex, from his perspective largely if not wholly justified, since he has the public downfall and the rap sheet to prove it.
He is, as former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Cramer says in “Being Blago,” “the personification of a victim card.” Blagojevich has yet to learn to say deal me out, because he still wants in.
I’d rather pull my fingernails out with a vice grips than watch this, but if you do put yourself through this circus, let me know what you think.
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