WELCOME TO THE ILLINOIZE: George Ryan Writes A Book and we have a 1,100 word excerpt...Casino titans gambling big on online gaming...why are COVID-19 cases ticking up?

Tuesday, September 1, 2020

WELCOME

Thanks for being here for our first edition of The Illinoize Newsletter. I’m Patrick Pfingsten, and this is our new venture aiming to cut through the noise in Illinois politics. We’re inspired by the values of Abraham Lincoln, and we’re sure he’d be trying to drown out the noise of politics in 2020. We hope you’ll join us in this venture of news, commentary, video, audio, and more.

We hope you’ll share this newsletter with your friends. Let’s get to it.

RYAN’S NEW BOOK: “How does this happen in America?” And he’s not talking about corruption…

Former Governor George Ryan, who served nearly six years in federal prison after a 2006 conviction for racketeering and mail fraud, among other charges, is out with a new book September 18, looking back on his decision to stop the death penalty in Illinois. The one term governor, who occupied the second floor from 1999-2003, may be trying to massage his legacy from “Governor who went to prison” to “humanitarian Governor.”

Here’s our story on the new book, which includes comments from Ryan’s co-author, longtime journalist Maurice Possley, as well as an 1,100 word excerpt from the book.

COVID-19 CASES ARE (STILL) GOING UP

Hannah Meisel, a remarkably talented journalist who we’re lucky to have as an occasional contributor to The Illinoize has been tracking COVID-19 data since the pandemic began in March.

Refill your coffee, as Hannah has an incredible deep dive into what has potentially led to a new late-summer surge of cases, and how some areas of the state are in bad shape as new COVID-19 cases continue to spike. If you’re a data nerd, (or even if you’re not) this is essential reading.

GAMING GIANTS BATTLING OVER ONLINE SPORTSBOOKS

Excited to have another piece on the website this morning from another talented journalist. Ben Garbarek is a suburban Chicago native who most recently covered politics for WSYX-TV in Columbus, OH.

Ben has an interesting look at the battle over online sports betting in Illinois and the powder keg igniting between Rivers Casino and Democrat mega-donor Neil Bluhm and online “daily fantasy” operator DraftKings, which has opened a sportsbook at the Casino Queen in East St. Louis.

As, my mentor, the great Dave Shaul always told me, follow the money.

YOU’RE STILL HERE?

If you’ve made it this far, thank you. I hope you’ve found the content interesting and I hope you get an idea of why we’re doing this.

Keep up to date on our website, www.theillinoize.com, Like our page on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter. You can send a tip to me anytime at patrick@theillinoize.com and we promise to always keep your identity protected if you so wish. If you’re a communications pro reading this, please add news@theillinoize.com to your distribution list.

AND FINALLY…

Congratulations to my friend McLean County Auditor Michelle Anderson and her husband Matt on the birth of their first child, Michael. He was born Thursday morning and everyone is said to be well. Look at that handsome devil.

Thanks for reading. Have a great Tuesday.