THE ILLINOIZE: Wednesday Free for All
December 8, 2021
Good morning readers.
Lots of news to get to this morning. Omicron is officially in Illinois, so will the Second City follow New York with a vaccination mandate for private employers? The legal fight over Illinois’ legislative maps is heating up. Plus there’s a plan to make it that much easier for fans to put their money where their mouth is (if you’re looking for a Chicago team who doesn’t stink - how about those Bulls?)
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Omicron is upon us: Illinois’ first case of latest COVID-19 variant confirmed in Chicago resident (Chicago Sun-Times)
Omicron has officially arrived in Chicago.
Public health officials on Tuesday announced COVID-19’s latest “variant of concern” was detected in a fully vaccinated Chicago resident who had received a booster dose. That person had been in contact with a visitor to the city who contracted Omicron.
The infected Chicagoan “did not require hospitalization, is improving and has been self-isolating since their symptoms began,” officials from the Illinois and Chicago public health departments said in a joint statement. Further contact tracing is underway.
“While unsurprising, this news should remind Chicagoans of the ongoing threat from COVID-19, especially as families prepare to come together over the holidays,” Chicago Public Health Director Dr. Allison Arwady said in a statement.
“We know how to slow the spread of this virus: get vaccinated, get boosted, get tested if you have symptoms or have been in contact with someone with COVID-19, and stay away from others if you test positive.”
Redistricting Lawsuit Gets Final Showdown in Federal Court (The Illinoize)
Rebecca Holland was in the federal courthouse for The Illinoize yesterday and filed this story:
Attorneys for MALDEF argued that while Chicago’s population has shrunk over the last decade, the Latino population has grown by 300,000, yet Latinos are not proportionally in power in state government. The group has drawn its own map, which has nine house districts and four senate districts in which Latinos are the majority of eligible voters, compared with four and two in the Democrats’ September map.
NAACP attorneys took issue with how the September map plan splits East St. Louis. The map moves a block of Black voters from a majority-Black, majority East St. Louis district represented by Rep. LaToya Greenwood (D-East St. Louis) to a whiter, more rural district to strengthen the district of Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Swansea). NAACP attorneys argued more Black voters were moved out of Greenwood’s district and into Hoffman’s than vice versa.
A large part of all three plaintiffs’ arguments focused on members appointed to the General Assembly. In the challenged areas, many of the representatives are, or were, appointed. Because incumbents have a higher chance of winning elections, plaintiffs say voters’ wishes aren’t always heard.
“People aren’t running because they know they can’t win,” said Charles Edward Harris, a lawyer for the Republican General Assembly members suing the Democrats.
U.S. District Judge Robert M. Dow Jr. pointed out that the appointees are mostly Latino, and asked “why isn’t it a benefit, instead of a burden?”
Later, he seemed to grow frustrated with the plaintiffs, who argued Chicago was unique in the number of appointments and how often incumbents win elections.
“Is there any evidence that Illinois is different than other states?” he asked.
“I don’t know, I’ve been concentrating on this case,” Harris said.
“If you’re saying Illinois is unique, it would help your point to have those numbers,” Judge Dow said.
There are still some issues that lawyers can file paper arguments on by Friday. The panel could rule on the legality of the maps in the next few weeks.
Lightfoot: No plans for NYC-style vax mandate for private sector (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Mayor Lori Lightfoot has no plans to take a page out of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s book and mandate that private-sector workers receive COVID vaccines. The mandate, which takes effect later this month, is being characterized by the outgoing NYC mayor as a “preemptive strike” to head off an increase in COVID cases due to the omicron variant.
“We will not see that here in the city of Chicago, and frankly I question” whether it will survive a potential court challenge, Lightfoot told reporters today. President Joe Biden’s efforts to require vaccinations for large private-sector employers is facing legal hurdles.
Instead, the mayor says she’s "encouraging employers of all types to make sure they're doing everything they can to maximize safety and mandate a vaccine,” and added that she’s “heartened” that restaurants, bars and sports stadiums that have required proof of vaccination or a negative test for entry.
Illinois’ weed tax windfall tops $560 million. Here’s where that money goes. (Chicago Sun-Times)
First-time recreational cannabis buyers often feel the sticker shock.
With hefty taxes, an eighth of an ounce of fresh cannabis flower typically costs around $80 — far more than the price of black market weed.
But sales have continued to boom despite the sky-high taxes and prices, totaling over $1.9 billion since the drug was fully legalized last January. As a result, total tax collections on pot sales have now jumped to nearly $563 million. And since February, pot sales have brought in a whooping $100 million more in taxes than booze.
…So where has that money gone?
Perhaps most notably, $134.1 million is financing two programs aimed at investing in communities hardest hit by the drug war and funding mental health and drug treatment initiatives. A similar amount has been deposited into the state’s general revenue and budget stabilization funds. And more than $60 million more has been used to cover administrative costs, fund local governments, facilitate the sweeping cannabis expungement process, finance a public education campaign on substance abuse and research the impact of cannabis legalization.
Plan to allow sports betting at Chicago arenas stumbles amid concerns about casino competition (Chicago Tribune)
Chicago aldermen balked Tuesday at a plan to allow sports betting at Wrigley Field, the United Center and elsewhere, despite Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s hope that adding a 2% city tax to the gambling returns would blunt criticism that the sportsbooks would cut into tax money collected from a planned city-run casino.
A joint City Council committee — which Lightfoot predicted Monday would advance the sportsbook plan — instead held it, amid ongoing questions about whether the books would hurt the casino.
Aldermen said they want to see a city-commissioned report that Lightfoot administration officials said shows the two types of gambling have coexisted elsewhere without harming casino tax bottom line.
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