In an appearance with Gov. J.B. Pritzker this morning, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said in no uncertain terms that “we need to continue to make progress in vaccinating our residents, but if we have trends in the wrong direction, we’ll not hesitate to tighten restrictions on gatherings indoors and outdoors.”
She made the remarks at a vaccination site in suburban Forest Park, where elected leaders along with the state’s top public health official, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, told reporters that while the number of vaccinated residents continues apace — at last report, 6.7 million vaccine doses had been administered — the data continues to show a worrisome surge in newly diagnosed COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.
Still, plans continue for the day when things can get back to normal. The Tribune’s John Byrne reports that “long-standing Chicago parades canceled during the pandemic would get first dibs on reclaiming the dates to hold their events rather than having to vie with neighborhood opponents under a plan aldermen advanced Thursday.”
And last night, the Cook County Democratic Party, which Preckwinkle chairs, took a symbolic vote in support of legislation creating an elected board to oversee Chicago Public Schools. The public display puts pressure on Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who opposes this particular legislation but campaigned on a promise of an elected panel.
It also highlights some intraparty tensions. Lightfoot and Preckwinkle were in a bitter battle in the 2019 mayor’s race. Lightfoot isn’t exactly pals either with state Sen. Rob Martwick, a lead sponsor of the elected school board bill in the Senate, a Democratic Party boss who voted to endorse the legislation as well as a Preckwinkle ally.
Lightfoot and Martwick famously got into a public shouting match back in 2019 over her criticism of a different bill he sponsored
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As Illinois gears up to open vaccinations to all Illinois adults, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announces 150K appointments and warns against new restrictions
First the good news on the vaccination front: Gov. Pritzker announced today that the state will make available 150,000 first-dose COVID-19 vaccination appointments next week as eligibility opens to everyone over age 16, the Tribune’s Dan Petrella reports.
Now for the worrisome news: We’ve been hearing for a few weeks about the uptick in cases, but Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike today offered this picture: A month ago, there were fewer than 1,100 people in the hospital statewide with COVID-19. Yesterday almost 1,800 people were in the hospital. On March 15, 782 new cases were reported; yesterday, nearly 4,000 newly diagnosed cases were reported statewide.
Preckwinkle said if the surge gets worse, she wouldn’t hesitate to tighten restrictions again.
My Tribune colleagues reported yesterday that Mayor Lori Lightfoot has expressed reluctance to shut down more businesses or events due to the economic toll such a move would cause, but also has said she would do so if COVID-19 metrics worsen.
Any decision the county makes will be in “fairly close lockstep” with Chicago, Dr. Rachel Rubin, co-lead of the Cook County Department of Public Health, said yesterday.
More transmissible UK variant plays role: Yesterday, I talked about that unending pingpong match elected leaders seem to be playing as they vacillate between messages of hope about vaccination numbers and concerns about rising case numbers, due in no small part to variants of the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday that the COVID-19 variant first identified in the United Kingdom — deemed to be more transmissible — is now the dominant strain in the United States.
Stay-at-home order issued at University of Chicago as COVID-19 spikes; school eyes link to fraternity parties, cancels in-person classes, the Tribune’s Rosemary Sobol and Elyssa Cherney report.
RELATED: COVID-19 and Tuesday’s elections: “Despite very public calls to oust school board members and reject candidates who opposed fully reopening schools until April, Naperville District 203 and Indian Prairie School District 204 incumbents appear to have cruised to reelection by hefty margins,” Rafael Guerrero reports in the Naperville Sun.
The Tribune’s Alice Yin has a breakdown on the Cook County Democratic Party’s vote to endorse two bills in the Illinois General Assembly that would pave the way for an elected school board in Chicago.
“In a 51-5 decision, the (Cook County Democratic) central committee voted on Wednesday night to endorse Illinois House and Senate plans. The move sets the wheels in motion for the party to write formal letters to Illinois House Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch and Senate President Don Harmon urging them to enact the legislation. Both of the Democratic legislative leaders also expressed their support of the proposal that night.”
Several City Council members — some Lightfoot allies, some not — were among the “no” votes, Yin notes.
“Neither measure has yet to pass either chamber, but the nod from the party ratchets up pressure on Lightfoot as she continues opposing the Chicago Teachers Union-endorsed legislation that she has characterized as unwieldy,” Yin writes. “Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who had CTU’s support but lost her mayoral bid in the 2019 runoff election against Lightfoot, serves as the Democratic Party’s Cook County chair.”
Lightfoot said earlier this week that any elected school board plans “will happen on a timeline that makes sense, not a timeline someone tries to dictate to me.”
Preckwinkle said during an unrelated news conference with the governor today that the decision to endorse the legislation emanated from the county Democratic Party’s policy committee.
Preckwinkle spokeswoman Delmarie Cobb told The Spin that the committee “is putting together an agenda of issues the party can get behind.” Cobb says “this isn’t about a petty rivalry” between Lightfoot and Preckwinkle.
Also: “(T)he party voted to send a written reprimand to Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, for backing the Republican opponent of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx during her heated reelection campaign last year,” Yin writes. More here.
From the Tribune’s Rick Pearson: “U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, Illinois’ new Democratic chair, said Thursday the party needs to do a better job of candidate recruitment at the local level, particularly in heavily Republican downstate areas, to preserve its hold on state politics.” Full story here.
Pearson also writes: “Kelly, who last month replaced embattled former House Speaker Michael Madigan as state party chairman, said there’s a need to challenge Republican candidates at the local level to leverage support from Democrats, independents and even moderate Republicans.” She made the comments during a virtual meeting of the City Club of Chicago.
Washington take: Kelly, who has represented the state’s 2nd Congressional District since 2013, which stretches from the South Side to the south suburbs, exurbs and Kankakee, also talked about how Democrats need to focus on COVID-19 response if they’re going to preserve their slim majorities in the U.S. House and Senate.
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“We need to get our message out that we passed the American rescue plan, that we didn’t have one Republican vote,” Kelly said. “We have to make sure that we are touching the people we need to touch and leave no stone unturned.”
Also: As President Joe Biden was announcing a series of gun control measures, Kelly talked about introducing a measure to make illegal straw purchases of firearms a federal crime.
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Chicago replaces largest recycling contractor, Waste Management, with LRS
A new company will take over picking up recycling from outside homes in parts of Chicago under a three-year contract, my Tribune colleagues report.
Recycling company LRS, the lowest of four bidders for the work at $79.6 million, will take over from Waste Management Inc. For years, the garbage hauling behemoth — described by a local watchdog group as the city’s largest recycling contractor — faced criticism for too frequently declaring the contents of blue recycling bins in Chicago alleys contaminated, refusing to pick them up.
Chicago’s recycling rate was under 10% as of 2017, according to the city, representing a reduction from 11% in 2014, at a time many other American cities are seeing their recycling rates improve.
It comes after a 2018 investigation by the Better Government Association, which examined problems with recycling programs. Read the BGA story here.
Loyola University medical expert takes the stand in Derek Chauvin trial
George Floyd died of a lack of oxygen from being pinned to the pavement with a knee on his neck, a Chicago-area medical expert testified at former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin’s murder trial today, emphatically rejecting the defense theory that Floyd’s drug use and underlying health problems were what killed him, The Associated Press reports.
“A healthy person subjected to what Mr. Floyd was subjected to would have died,” said prosecution witness Dr. Martin Tobin, a lung and critical care specialist at the Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital and Loyola University’s medical school in suburban Maywood Illinois.
The AP noted Dr. Tobin used “easy-to-understand language to explain medical concepts and even loosening his necktie to make a point, Tobin told the jury that Floyd’s breathing was severely constricted while Chauvin and two other officers held the 46-year-old Black man down on his stomach last May with his hands cuffed behind him and his face jammed against the ground.
“The lack of oxygen resulted in brain damage and caused his heart to stop, the witness said.” More here.
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