THE ILLINOIZE: Thursday Free for All
October 7, 2021
Good morning.
President Joe Biden will be in Chicago today, rescheduling a trip he canceled last week. The White House didn’t actually release his itinerary, though the Sun-Times reported a stop in Elk Grove Village that was canceled last week may still be on the agenda.
Governor JB Pritzker’s public schedule today shows him joining Biden at 1pm, which we assume will be on the tarmac at O’Hare.
It’s possible the last minute announcement and lack of details was due to a late developing schedule. It could also be security threats or just simply keeping protestors off the President’s route, like when he was in Crystal Lake this summer.
Biden is going to speak about vaccines, apparently. Maybe he should be making a personal appeal downstate. Chicago is 58% vaccinated and Cook County is around 62%. Most counties in southern Illinois are under 40%.
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YOUR MONDAY FREE FOR ALL
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What’s in it for you? Illinois’ sweeping new clean energy law includes a $4,000 rebate on an electric car, up to 10% off on your electric bill and up to $9,000 back on a solar roof. (Chicago Tribune)
Illinois’ massive new clean energy bill, signed into law last this month, is a landmark in the state’s battle against climate change: a systematic plan for boosting solar and wind power, getting a million electric cars on the road, and phasing out coal and natural gas by 2050.
It’s also an opportunity for consumers to save some cash, analysts say.
One of the easiest ways is to reduce your energy bill is to take advantage of a community solar plan. An Illinois solar farm sells energy to the grid, reaping profits because solar energy is relatively inexpensive to produce and government incentives defray startup costs. Some of the profits are passed on to you as a member of the plan, and you get a discount on your electric bill and the satisfaction of knowing you’re supporting clean energy.
Illinois community solar plans vary, but many offer roughly 5% to 10% off your electric bill.”
Springfield Republicans move to make crime a major voter issue (Crain’s Chicago Business)
With crime heating up as a red-hot political issue in Chicago, and elsewhere in Illinois, Springfield Republicans today moved to introduce a tough law-and-order package that would undo some of the criminal justice reforms Democrats just enacted.
In a series of news conferences and statements, Senate Republicans unveiled bills they said would boost funding for mental health and target gun traffickers, two things that some Democrats support. But the bulk of the package calls for longer minimum sentences for offenders, including life in prison for some second offenses such as aggravated carjacking. And it would allow counties to opt out of new state rules that sharply restrict the use of cash bail.
“Legislative leaders found time to ram through multiple controversial bills this year that do nothing to keep people safe,” said state Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, in a morning news conference. Rose and four other GOP senators were to follow up with a second news conference this afternoon. “These bills will help our law enforcement community to finally stem the tide of violence that has washed over our state.”
Rose in his remarks particularly targeted Illinois Senate President Don Harmon, a Democrat from Oak Park, challenging him to call the bills when the Legislature holds its fall veto session later this month.
Pritzker’s office released a statement emphasizing that Republicans regularly have voted against proposed budgets that “invested record amounts of funding into gun violence prevention programs, increased investments in social services like mental health and substance abuse treatment and prioritized investments in communities grappling with higher crime rates because of years of disinvestment.” It adds: “The Senate Republicans have shown us time and time again they care more about getting headlines than supporting solutions.”
Harmon’s spokesman released a terse statement saying only that the GOP plan will get “appropriate review.”
Don’t think this is all politics from Rose. One of his best friends is a police officer who was shot in an incident earlier this year. Rose’s friend survived, but another officer was killed.
That said, Republicans know they aren’t going to get a hearing or a vote on these bills, especially the ones that directly contradict or undo any of the criminal justice reform bill passed earlier this year.
But if polling shows JB Pritzker and Democrats are doing well (especially in the suburbs) on COVID responses, crime will be the clear way to knock them down.
‘Unconstitutional’: Mental health access in Illinois prisons fails to meet standards (Southern Illinoisan)
Five years after a class action lawsuit found Illinois’ mental health care for inmates in the Department of Corrections unconstitutional, an independent court monitor found that the same problems still exist.
These include an inappropriate use of solitary confinement, failing to properly manage medication, failing to provide adequate treatment plans and extended “crisis watches.”
“How many roads must we go down, for how many years, when, despite pious assurances of a commitment to deliver constitutional care, we always end up at the same place—unalleviated mental suffering caused by ignoring community standards of care. Will this ever end?” Harold Hirshman, of Dentons law firm said in the release
Mills said he believes part of the reason the department is failing to provide adequate care is due to a lack of staff.
“They just don't have enough staff, have never had enough staff, since we have [issued] this case, that can provide all the things I just talked about,” Mills said. “And that's part of the reason why they're not doing it, because they simply don't have the personnel to do it.”
Chicago doctor, others deal with COVID denial: ‘You are welcome to leave, but you will be dead before you get to your car’ (Chicago Sun-Times)
[Dr. Carl Lambert] hears lots of wild misinformation from his patients. Some comes from Bible interpretations, some from rapper Nicki Minaj.
Some is the stuff of Internet conspiracy theories. People cite falsehoods spread on social media, according to the Chicago physian, who says he’s had patients tell him microchips are embedded in vaccines as part of a ploy to take over people’s DNA.
“Impossible scientifically,” he tells them.
He also hears from patients saying the vaccine will weaken their immune systems. He responds: “Immunology 101: Vaccines help your immune system.”
Recently, he got a flurry of messages from patients worried about damage to their testicles — a rumor he traced to a tweet from Minaj, who spread false information that the vaccine causes impotence.
“And I was, like, ‘That’s outlandish,’ ” says Lambert, who says he now has to do “a lot of just kind of counseling that I did not expect to have to do.”
Some of the misinformation is delivered from the pulpit, he says. People have sent him sermons saying the vaccine is “ungodly, or there’s something in it that will mark you” — a reference to a verse in the Book of Revelation about the “mark of the beast” that some Christians cite as a reason for not getting vaccinated.
“There’s a mixture of, like, almost fear,” Lambert says, “and saying, ‘Hey, if you do this, maybe you’re not as faithful as you should be as, say, a Christian.’ ”
Most often, though, he’ll have patients just wanting to wait, uneasy with how quickly the vaccine was developed and suggesting that the pandemic will end on its own.
He warns them: “Please do not try to wait out a pandemic. A pandemic will win.”
Related: State sees slight uptick in COVID-19 hospitalizations, but not in suburbs (Daily Herald)
COVID-19 death still stalks the Quad-Cities, virus claims six according to latest reports (Dispatch Argus)
Sen. Chris Belt, mayor’s family are on the payroll of southwest Illinois’ newest town (Belleville News-Democrat)
The former mayor of Alorton, a state senator and Mayor Curtis McCall Sr.’s sons are among the 112 employees working for the new city of Cahokia Heights. McCall Sr., who was sworn in as mayor of Cahokia Heights in May, said he’s confident in everyone he’s appointed to serve in his administration so far, given that several have previously worked for the three dissolved towns and associated entities included in the merger. “Since I’ve been the mayor, we’ve probably hired 100 people in the new city of Cahokia Heights, and that should tell you a little bit about my ability to be fair,” said McCall, who is paid $85,025.20 annually to be mayor.
Former Alorton Mayor JoAnn Reed works as the director for the city’s nutrition center. Illinois Sen. Chris Belt (D-Swansea) is the director of compliance, risk management and safety, according to 2021 documents obtained by the Belleville News-Democrat. Both positions are full-time. Reed and Belt previously worked for Commonfields of Cahokia Public Water District — making $29,400 and $58,500, respectively, in 2020 — which the new city absorbed under its own water and sewer.
OTHER LINKS OF NOTE
What is a “fair” congressional map? (The Illinoize)
Congressman Adam Kinzinger speaks to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Post-Dispatch)
Arlington Heights’ playbook: Tax breaks, public financing only considered as ‘last resort’ in luring Bears (Chicago Sun-Times)
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