-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
“I don’t think anybody can predict the cost,” Dave Ricketts at the BuyBoard Purchasing Cooperative said. “Providing PPE to students will most likely be a shared cost with parents picking up a portion of those costs for providing PPE directly for their students’ use.”
Despite the shortened session, the legislature should have taken up stronger ethics reforms, Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield said. A task force formed to recommend improved ethics laws has all but disappeared during the coronavirus pandemic and has yet to deliver recommendations.
A for-profit spinoff from a Northwestern laboratory is pushing to have methods in place by the end of the summer that could zoom in on neighborhoods, nursing homes, factories, warehouses and meat-packing plants by collecting sewage samples from nearby manholes.
“It began as a legitimate and rightful protest over the Minneapolis police killing of Floyd, the cop Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck. But it shifted quickly into something else. Then it wasn’t about Floyd anymore. Then it wasn’t about peace and justice. The mob began looting what it could. And Chicago began to weep.”
“This city, pressed not by violent street protests but political momentum, could be positioned to become a national example of how a police department examines its failures and improves. The possibilities for transformation are real, but so are the obstacles.”
The rail agency cited municipal restrictions limiting the ability of its workers to reach job sites and public safety.
“Despite hundreds of arrests, hundreds more violent criminals remain at large in Chicago, and unverified reports suggest more may be traveling here from other locations, with intent to continue the mayhem,” Chicago Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) said in a statement. “Of greatest concern is the arsonists who remain at large, as their acts are the most immediate threat to life, as well as property.
At least four of the five reported curfews were in the south suburbs. Wheaton, in the west suburbs, and Highland Park, in the north suburbs, both announced a heightened police presence but have not yet imposed curfews.
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx echoed the governor and mayor’s support of peaceful protest. But she stressed prosecutors would “hold those accountable” for criminal activity and emphasized she intended to seek justice against whoever caused destruction, not peaceful protesters.
The share of Illinois workers filing unemployment claims since the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic was the 11th lowest percentage among the 50 states, the analysis said.
“…making hard choices to enable funding pension plans or kicking the can for future generations, and actively working to forestall riots or choosing to believe that insurance will cover the losses anyway — it all matters, and it’s all fundamentally a question of accepting responsibility rather than believing it can be shunted off to others or to future generations.”
The state has struggled in its effort to test residents and staff at all facilities — reaching only a fifth of the homes before Thursday, when Pritzker announced that the facilities would need to take responsibility for the testing. It remains unclear how many facilities have tested all residents and staff at least once, when facilities must comply with the new state rule, and how often they should retest to ensure the virus doesn’t creep in.
“People are just so happy to be out, some of our servers are getting 100% tips,” said manager Ken Majewski.
Pritzker said Friday that the state is “covering about 30% of the contact tracing of people who are contacts,” and said its goal is to get above 60%. The state is aiming to hire 30 workers per 100,000 residents, predicting “an army of contact tracers” into the thousands.
The district estimates that it would take $3 billion to bring all facilities into a state of good repair, but also admits that it doesn’t have that much money for building repairs. It is conducting a facilities audit.
SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER