THE ILLINOIZE: State Fair vendors concerned...COVID-19 vaccination requirement impacts National Guard...Stopping straw purchases
August 10, 2021
Good morning.
Considering the baseball season for this north side fan ended around the time the Ricketts family shipped off the core of the franchise, I know there are plenty of folks excited about this week’s White Sox/Yankees game on the same property as the Field of Dreams movie set in Iowa.
I love the movie and I’m all in for an outfield lined with corn stalks, but it’ll be 90°, humid, and covered in mosquitoes. So, have fun with that.
Don’t forget, we’re running a discount for one year subscriptions to paid newsletters. For the month of August, we’re knocking off $10 from the annual $75 price.
Just a quick programming note for paid subscribers: we likely won’t have a newsletter tomorrow morning. I have a small doctor’s thing this afternoon and will probably need to take the rest of the afternoon and evening off. If something big happens today, we’ll get you some thoughts Wednesday morning.
Let’s get into it.
STATE FAIR VENDORS CONCERNED ABOUT MITIGATIONS
After Friday’s announcement that masks will be required indoors at the Illinois State Fair and vaccinations or negative COVID tests are required for some grandstand tickets, some vendors are worried about the impact the new rules may have on crowds.
The state announced the new restrictions on fairgoers less than a week before the fair opens this Thursday after being canceled completely in 2020.
Kelsie Vose, whose family has been selling corn dogs at the State Fair for 55 years, says she’s concerned about the impact the requirements will have on attendance.
“The concert [ticket] sales have been great,” she said. “They were almost mirroring ‘19, which was one of the best fairs we’ve had in years. Being thrown something like this a week before the fair starts, there’s absolutely concern.”
Concerts are a main part of the Vose family business during the fair with their stands located right behind the grandstand.
All concertgoers will be required to wear a mask, and the state is requiring those in standing room areas on the track area of the grandstand, which are often filled with young people, to “provide a print or digital copy of personal vaccine card, vaccine record, or negative COVID-19 test within the 72 hours preceding the concert.”
Vose says she worries the additional burden will keep some people home and many others may not be able to meet the requirements because they traveled from out of state without their vaccination card or weren’t aware of the new policy.
“I’ve had several conversations with people who had no idea [of the requirements],” she said. “I think that’s kind of a big worry that people aren’t even aware of the restrictions.
There was even some concern among vendors we spoke to that musical acts may cancel their appearances out of protest. So far, that hasn’t happened, and an Illinois Department of Agriculture spokesperson says the vaccination requirements do not apply to performers and there’s no concern there will be any cancellations.
“The health and safety of our fairgoers has been and continues to be our number one priority,” said a Department of Ag spokesperson. “We think this will encourage more folks to come out to the fair knowing these safety measures are in place.”
It isn’t clear how the mask and vaccine mandates will be enforced.
Vose is hoping for the best.
“I don’t think the fair is going to be empty,” she said. “But I do think that some of those evenings where people would generally be showing up for those concerts, I don’t know what to expect.”
Jim and Darcie Cullers, who operate a long-running french fry stand at the State Fair, didn’t comment on the mask or vaccine requirements, but encouraged local residents to make attending the fair a priority.
MILITARY VACCINE REQUIRMENT INCLUDES ILLINOIS NATIONAL GUARD
First, the national story, via NPR:
The Department of Defense is moving to make COVID-19 vaccinations required for all department employees.
"To defend this Nation, we need a healthy and ready force," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a memo to employees Monday. "I strongly encourage all DoD military and civilian personnel — as well as contractor personnel — to get vaccinated now and for military Service members to not wait for the mandate."
The Pentagon cannot take the step unilaterally because the Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved the vaccine. The move would require a presidential waiver, which Austin plans to ask for by mid-September.
After that, individual services would draft plans for implementing a mandate within each military branch, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Monday.
Alternatively, if the FDA gives full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine before then, Austin has the authority to implement a mandate himself.
I asked Lt. Col. Brad Leighton of the Illinois National Guard if the federal DoD mandate would include Guardsmen. The short answer is, yes.
“In the area of medical personnel readiness, we fall under the Army or the Air Force, both of which fall under Department of Defense policy,” Leighton told me yesterday.
There are about 13,000 members in both the Illinois Army National Guard and Illinois Air National Guard.
GUN THAT KILLED CHICAGO OFFICER PURCHASED IN INDIANA
Via the Chicago Tribune:
The gun used to kill Chicago police Officer Ella French during a traffic stop Saturday was bought in a sham purchase by an Indiana man on behalf of another man, who was in the car French and her partner pulled over before they were shot, federal prosecutors allege.
Jamel Danzy now faces charges of conspiring to violate federal firearms laws. A bond hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
French was killed and her partner was critically wounded over the weekend after the traffic stop in in West Englewood. Chicago police have two men in custody connected to the shooting, one of whom was arrested in possession of a Glock semi-automatic pistol, authorities said. Charges against those two suspects have not yet been announced.
But shortly after the shooting, investigators traced both the gun and the car to Danzy, a restaurant worker in northwest Indiana, according to the complaint.
Records showed that Danzy bought the gun in March from a licensed dealer in Hammond, where he claimed to be buying the weapon for himself, according to the complaint.
ATF agents on Sunday tracked down Danzy at the restaurant where he works, and he agreed to be interviewed on tape in an agent’s car in the parking lot.
Let me just start by saying that Officer French was 29 years old. She’ll never get married. She’ll never have children. She’ll never get to have the things she deserved.
This isn’t about pro or anti-2nd Amendment. We can all agree that this gun should never have been on the street.
The differences, especially in this case, don’t really make this an Illinois vs. Indiana thing. If the purchaser would have had the same record as the criminal in Illinois, he never would have passed the NICS background check at the gun shop. The only difference is the 72-hour waiting period in Illinois, but it doesn’t really seem like waiting three days would have stopped this illegal purchase.
It’s already a federal crime to make a straw purchase. Even if the Cook County State’s Attorney charges the purchaser as an accessory or co-conspirator to murder, does that stop it? Tougher gun charges don’t seem to deter the bad guys. But, are the arrests being made? I asked a downstate State’s Attorney if there was a key to stopping straw purchases.
“Arrests,” was the text I got back.
I don’t know that I have a great idea. I’d love to hear yours.
CONDOLENCES
Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Democratic State Central Committeeman Don Johnston, who passed away this weekend.
Johnston was a longtime Rock Island County Board member and Moline Township supervisor. He was also on former Sen. Paul Simon’s staff.
Johnston had a stroke a couple of weeks ago. He was 73.
HAPPY BIRTHDAYS
Today- Former Sen. Jim DeLeo (70)
Tomorrow- Former Rep. Rosemary Kurtz
Thursday- Sen. Bill Cunningham
Friday- Former Sen. Carole Pankau
Sunday- Former Congresswoman Judy Biggert, former Rep. Steve Andersson
Monday- Former Senator Carol Moseley-Braun, former Rep. and IDVA Director Linda Chapa LaVia
BEFORE WE GO…
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