Republicans eye changes, audit after deadly COVID-19 outbreak at state veterans’ homes 

Two Republican lawmakers have introduced measures aimed at tightening safety regulations in response to the deadly COVID-19 outbreak inside the state’s veterans’ homes. 

On Monday, Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) and Rep. David Welter (R-Morris) highlighted a pair of proposals during a virtual press conference that they say would prevent a similar deadly outbreak in the future. They would also require an audit to be performed to examine issues in the state’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak at the facilities.  

News in brief: Lightfoot, CPS looks to high schools next as K-5 students return to class; Blanchard to make case on political hiring in Board of Review’s office 

City Council Reparations Subcommittee could meet this month after delay 

The City Council’s Committee on Health and Human Relations’ subcommittee on Reparations could hold its first-ever meeting in the coming weeks, more than four months after the group was launched and one month after its initially scheduled inaugural meeting was canceled.   

Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6), chair of the health and human relations committee and a long-time proponent of creating a city commission to study reparations, said there was “some miscommunication” with the mayor’s office and the resolution calling for the subcommittee to meet in February “somehow did not get to the [Clerk Anna Valencia] like it was supposed to.” 

News in brief: United Center to open as vaccine site March 10

City leaders mull limited options to rein in racially discriminatory home lending as bankers snub hearing 

Aldermen are exploring the city’s options to disrupt entrenched patterns of discrimination in the banking industry that have made it nearly impossible for some people to buy homes in majority-Black neighborhoods. But until city leaders get banking CEOs and federal regulators on board, they may have few cards to play. 

That was one takeaway from a three-hour hearing of the City Council Committee on Housing and Real Estate on Friday, when aldermen and Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin chewed over potential antidotes to the endemic lending disparities that WBEZ and City Bureau brought to the fore through a blockbuster investigation last year. Committee chair Ald. Harry Osterman (48) invited nearly a dozen housing advocates, researchers, struggling homebuyers and outside elected officials to highlight the decades-old injustice and consider how to climb out. 

City Council approves federal COVID relief funding after temporary delay; General Iron resolution blocked 

Aldermen approved allocating new and carried-over federal COVID-19 grant funding on Friday, overcoming aldermen who days earlier blocked the budget maneuver after saying they disagreed with spending on Chicago Police personnel. 

Friday’s City Council meeting picked up where a Wednesday meeting left off when it ended prematurely after aldermen used a parliamentary maneuver to temporarily block two measures. 

News in brief: Another Madigan replacement named; Acevedo and sons indicted  

After 2 months, staff vaccinations at Illinois veterans’ homes still lag 

Nearly two months after Illinois began vaccinating residents and staff at long-term care facilities, many employees remain unvaccinated at the state’s veterans’ homes, which have seen 77 deaths.  

In late December, the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs reported that 74 percent of all veterans’ home residents had been vaccinated for COVID-19. At the same time, just 40 percent of staff had been vaccinated. The agency provided a facility-by-facility summary of the percentage of residents and staff that had received doses.  

News in brief: Aldermen to discuss mortgage lending inequities; Water department implementing actions following IG audit on overtime; Chicago could get Johnson & Johnson vaccine next week 

Cook County eyes ‘supercharging’ rental assistance program with $73M federal grant 

Cook County commissioners cleared the way on Thursday for a new infusion of federal cash that could save thousands of suburban residents from eviction. 

The board voted unanimously during its regular meeting to allow the county’s Bureau of Economic Development to accept (21-1609) nearly $73 million in grant funding approved as part of the $908 billion relief package passed by Congress in December, which included about $25 billion in nationwide rental assistance. 

Guaranteed income program, demolition fees among new ordinances set for introduction 

New legislation scheduled to be formally introduced in City Council Friday spans a variety of issues including a call for the city to establish a guaranteed income program, a new fee tied to the demolition of homes in gentrifying neighborhoods and a call for the creation of a new office to provide independent legal counsel to the City Council. 

Aldermen are also pushing for the resignation of Chicago Postmaster Wanda Prater and for hotel and hospitality workers to be moved up in the city’s vaccination queue.  

News in brief: Madigan successor resigns; Pritzker anticipates Illinois getting 100,000 daily COVID-19 vaccines; Ezike testifies before Congress 

Deaths plummet in Illinois’ long-term care facilities as vaccinations ramp up 

Despite an initially slow vaccine rollout, the deadliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic for Illinois’ long-term care facilities may be over, according to data maintained by the state.  

Last week, Illinois’ roughly 1,400 long-term care facilities, which include nursing homes, veterans’ homes, assisted living centers, retirement communities and skilled-nursing facilities, recorded 59 deaths, the lowest weekly total in months.  

Cook County ‘ramping up’ vaccinations, contact tracing faster than federal dose delivery, officials say  

Cook County public health officials have vaccinated more than 100,000 people in the past month and plan to significantly scale up operations as the pipeline of new vaccine widens, they told county commissioners Wednesday. 

The county has stood up an in-house vaccination system through a combination of mass vaccination sites and targeted distribution at jails and health centers, although some county workers and residents have complained of hiccups and delays. The system is on pace to expand after Thursday, when the county Board of Commissioners approves a measure (21-1547) allowing the county to recoup up to $75 million in additional funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover vaccination costs. 

City Council meeting ends abruptly after aldermen delay passage of two controversial measures 

Wednesday’s City Council meeting ended abruptly after aldermen temporarily blocked two proposals up for consideration, delaying the formal introduction of dozens of new measures including the “Anjanette Young Ordinance,” which would establish new search warrant standards for the Chicago Police Department.  

Prior to Wednesday’s meeting, a group of Black alderwomen and Anjanette Young held a news conference outlining their proposal to help rein in issues with Chicago Police Department search warrant executions gone awry. The measure was spurred by the botched raid on Young’s home, during which police handcuffed her while she was naked and telling officers they had the wrong home. 

News in brief: Pandemic food program expanded; lawmakers call for more equity, transparency in transportation projects; Lausch to remain US attorney until successor confirmed; McCormick Place teaming up with Fight2Feed 

Pritzker looks to assist municipalities facing unprecedented natural gas bills 

Responding to this month’s winter storm that resulted in utility prices surging in some parts of Illinois, Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday announced an effort to create a low-interest loan program aimed at helping affected municipalities.  

Speaking at the Illinois Emergency Management Agency in Springfield, Pritzker announced the forthcoming program, which is set to be considered at a special gathering of the Illinois Finance Authority on Thursday.  

News in brief: Lightfoot signs Welcoming City Ordinance; CDPH moves 16 states,D.C. to less restrictive travel tier; Blanchard, Board of Review to face off 

Smoke detector rules approved as ‘home museums’ crackdown, ‘clean air’ industrial ordinances stall 

Aldermen on Tuesday approved an ordinance designed to gradually modernize smoke detectors in Chicago homes, but two other major citywide proposals ran aground amid lingering disputes. 

Ald. Tom Tunney (44), chair of the City Council Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards, shelved a proposal O2020-6185) by Ald. Sophia King (4) to restrict the opening of “cultural exhibits and libraries” in residential zoning districts. The ordinance would require homeowners to apply to the City Council or Zoning Board of Appeals if they want to establish a so-called “home museum” in their house. 

Federal COVID-19 grant funding set for City Council approval after week of criticism over police spending 

The City Council is poised to approve an ordinance that would carry over $68 million in federal COVID-19 grant funds from 2020 and allocate additional pandemic-related federal grant money for this year to be used on rental assistance and vaccination programs.  

The city’s allocation of federal grant funds has proven a contentious topic during the past week as aldermen and residents have scrutinized Mayor Lori Lightfoot for putting $281 million of the $1.2 billion the city received from the March 2020 CARES Act toward Chicago Police Department personnel during the first few months of the pandemic.