Illinois

In a written directive, the Democratic Illinois governor tells his hiring office that "no one who attempts to overthrow a government should serve in government."

This is extremely worrying

Some notable ones are forcing insurances to supply brand name medications if generics are out due to supply issues, capping epi-pens at $60 and forced autism training for cops, surprising stuff from my state which, frankly, I didn't have high hopes for

Planned Parenthood of Illinois is collaborating with Hey Jane, a virtual abortion provider, to enhance access to abortion services in Illinois. This partnership allows Hey Jane patients to access procedural abortion care through Planned Parenthood, while Planned Parenthood patients can obtain medication abortions via Hey Jane. Patients can receive medications discreetly by mail or pick them up at a Planned Parenthood health center. Both organizations accept private insurance and provide financial assistance, with Planned Parenthood also accepting Medicaid and offering no-cost abortion care to eligible Illinois residents.

In Champaign County, the service election officials use to look up voter information went down for two hours. Polling places were unable to record votes during that time. This is a repeat of the same problem that happened in the 2022 election. The contractor responsible for maintaining that service both times was Platinum Technology Resource.

Just a few months ago, we learned Platinum Tech failed to password-protect their databases, leaking 4.6 million records including some SSNs associated with Illinois voters. I thought Illinois law requires business to inform consumers about the breach of their data. I didn't get any notice; perhaps there are some caveats?

Does your county use Platinum Tech to manage their voter information? Did your county have issues on election day or was everything smooth?

Two local races of note:

1. Sales tax increase for public safety failed 66 to 44%. "The money would have gone toward hiring mental health professionals for the sheriff’s department and three more attorneys in the public defender’s office" according to WCIA, but State Representative Carol Ammons (D-Urbana) came out against it, saying she doesn’t believe in taxing poor and working class people on services that may or may not benefit them. Her side appears to have won.

2. Incumbent Champaign County Auditor George Danos beat off challenger Alan Anderson 54 to 46% and a referendum to make the position appointed rather than elected 60 to 40%. Danos was late to submit audits of county finances to the state three times in the past (one was late by a year) according to Champaign County Executive Steve Summers (IPM Newsroom). Danos says that there were no repercussions for being late, and the vitriol from the County Executive is because "for the first time you’ve got a serious auditor with credentials and moxie. I’ve stood up to the Board that is dominated by my own party and they resent it." After the election, Danos said, "I was gratified to enjoy the loyalty of rank-and-file Democrats, who also agreed with me on the referenda." (News-Gazette).

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19078400

A federal ruling that came down two weeks ago ordering Illinois prison officials to empty the decrepit facility by Sept. 30 seems to have resulted in abrupt transfers from Stateville, despite what educators have said were assurances from the Illinois Department of Corrections that students and alumni from the same education programs would be allowed to move together.

In March, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced the state’s plan to close and rebuild Stateville, along with Logan Correctional Center, a women’s prison, due to conditions such as polluted water and crumbling buildings.

Despite its poor physical infrastructure, Stateville hosts five college programs and has some of the most robust programming of any prison in the state due to its proximity to Chicago.

About 30 students and alumni were on the list to be moved to Hill Correctional Center in downstate Galesburg – including Matthews – in order to stay with the Prison+Neighborhood Arts/Education Project. But Executive Director Arianna Salgado said Matthews and seven others were among those shipped to other facilities across the state this week. The nonprofit group, which works with Northeastern Illinois, started a petition on Wednesday asking the governor to stop the transfers.

“We’ve been advocating with IDOC for a group of our students to be able to move with us to the next facility that we end up at,” Salgado said. “We got the notification on Monday that several of our students were scheduled to be transferred this Thursday...to an institution that’s approximately five hours and more away from the City of Chicago.”

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20240826163136/https://www.wbez.org/criminal-justice/2024/08/22/abrupt-transfers-for-stateville-prisoners-begin-as-officials-rush-to-comply-with-a-federal-court-ruling

Canonical YouTube link