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Most of the language in the IDPH rules is identical to the executive order Pritzker filed late Friday. However, the department deleted any references to “modified quarantine” in previous guidance, and the new rules clarify that school districts don’t need court action to require testing, masks, or excluding students and school personnel.
There are more than 500 people detained at Cook County Jail awaiting transfer to IDOC facilities, according to a court filing on the county’s behalf from Special State’s Attorney Philip Fowler. Sheriffs across Illinois have for more than a year complained of the millions of dollars in additional costs borne by local taxpayers due to Pritzker’s pandemic prisoner policies.
A reprint of our Wirepoints column.
Cook County Public Defender Sharone Mitchell said it is clear Lightfoot’s proposal is based on an outdated understanding of street violence, “assuming a very 1980s version of criminal enterprise” with kingpins and profit motives. But in 2021, he said, gun violence is driven by interpersonal disputes and “social media BS.”
The union and district have been in negotiations over COVID-19 precautions, protocols and operations since before school started, but still have not reached an agreement.
Representing himself, Justin Mahwikizi sued the IDPH earlier this year in Cook County Circuit Court saying the mask mandate violates his rights.
Ernest Herrera, a staff attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said they filed in support of a legal challenge in federal court last week because the Democrats’ map hurts the political strength of the state’s growing Latino population.
“Without that affidavit, you can’t proceed and again what this creates is an impossible tool for the public to actually ever use,” state Sen. Jason Barickman said. He and state Rep. Mark Batinick filed proposed amendments to open that up and to include recall of any elected official.
While there are many Midwestern states toward the bottom of this list, analysts said that these numbers have more to do with industries and policies than regionality.
Chicago property tax bills have grown 90% since 2010. Spending for city services has increased 18% but pension spending increased 239% in that time.
“Chicago officials are making repeated financial mistakes that any personal financial advisor would advise against…The majority of this debt is caused primarily by the city making pension and retiree health promises, but not properly funding them properly.”
In addition to requesting the requirement for students in District 186, the resolution is also asking the Illinois State Board of Education and the Illinois Department of Public Health to consider mandating the vaccine for all students throughout the state Illinois.
The eviction order extension coincides with Governor J.B. Pritzker’s moratorium that will expire on Oct. 3.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security, which is in charge of distributing federal and state funds and collecting all of the overpayments, said the waiver program has not yet been implemented. The agency said they don’t have a time frame of when it will be.
The shortage forced the high school and junior high in Community Unit School District 308 in Oswego into remote learning. Staff would still need to report to classrooms, however.
The daily case rates for Connecticut and DC crept back over 15 per 100,000 residents over the past week, and they have gone back onto the travel advisory.
The idea being advocated by eight Chicago council members has strong opposition from the Chicago Restaurants Coalition. Restaurant owners argue it is difficult for restaurants, already having a hard time finding qualified servers, to handle the additional responsibility of checking for proof and enforcing it.
The good news is Illinois has a program that can provide up to $27,000 of expenses for qualified crime victims. But the money the state is awarding victims has dropped sharply, from more than $12 million a decade ago to just over $4 million last year. The program is run by the state attorney’s office and receives an average of $8.5 million a year from state and federal court fines convicted criminals are required to pay.
“By executive order. That’s how Illinois has been run by Governor J.B Pritzker since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020…Legally, the orders are not worth the paper they are printed on… But the precedent of ruling by autocratic decree is long established and the overwhelming majority of school districts accept these orders as the rule of law.”
It’s clear Palos Community Consolidated School District 118 didn’t realize just how bad their data breaches were. Yes, they put a notice up about it on the district website. But school districts in Illinois don’t actually have to tell the state Board of Education or the state Department of Innovation and Technology about cyberattacks – making them tough to trace.
“Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposed new $16.7 billion budget will require us all to open our wallets a bit more, mostly through a yearly escalator, tied to the consumer price index, that automatically raises property taxes. But we appreciate that the mayor’s budget at least recognizes these tough times by proposing creative new initiatives such as a direct cash assistance pilot program to help 5,000 low income families hit hard by COVID-19, and setting aside more money for mental health treatment….The mayor’s budget even calls for the planting of 75,000 trees to help fight global warming.”
Wyoming is the most “tax-friendly” state for middle-class families while Illinois checks in last, according to rankings from business forecast and personal finance publisher Kiplinger.
“We are trying to enhance trust in elections so that everybody, not just the winners, believe that elections were fair and not rigged,”said Illinois GOP Chairman Don Tracy. “Voting by mail, with its separation in the chain of custody, poses unique challenges to election integrity.”
Lightfoot is unintentionally setting Chicagoans up for a bigger fiscal cliff by ignoring the city’s worsening debts, and by creating more dependency through a multitude of programs. When the Fed’s largesse runs out Chicago will have millions in additional expenses and even higher debts – and no plan for how to pay for them.
Two teachers, an administrative assistant and a bus driver are seeking an injunction in Kane County Circuit Court. They contend the school districts are interfering with their rights by enforcing a “modified quarantine” that was mandated by the governor’s executive order – and that the governor has no authority to impose that modified quarantine.
The mayor said, “We are evaluating ways in which we can enhance the fan experience at Soldier Field. …I know that it can be better. I’ve been to other stadiums across the country where the fan experience is far superior to what we have at Soldier Field.”
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