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Politico: Is recall ‘fiasco’ heading to Illinois?
Illinois doesn’t have a recall law on the books and Pritzker is likely to have won a second term before one can be put in place, potentially putting the focus on legislators.
“A loud, vocal segment on the right asked California voters to validate their philosophy and were rejected, which would be a setback for anyone in Illinois hoping to run the same playbook,” Illinois Democratic campaign consultant Scott Kennedy told Playbook.
Chicago Tribune: Nearly 450 Illinois school districts and private schools have signed up for COVID-19 saliva SHIELD testing. So far, only 79 have started. Here’s why.
Most Illinois schools have not yet started weekly COVID-19 saliva testing despite being several weeks into the school year — a situation that officials blame on the logistics of getting testing off the ground as well as a crush of demand.
In early August, the state health department announced that all public schools in Illinois outside of Chicago — which received its own federal funding — would have access to free, weekly COVID-19 SHIELD Illinois testing to help keep students and staff safe, and to support the continuation of in-person learning. The test, which was developed by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, requires students to drool into individual tubes, which are then analyzed by SHIELD labs, with most results coming back within 24 hours. The test is able to detect the SARS-CoV-2 and its variants in symptomatic, pre-symptomatic, and asymptomatic individuals, according to the state.
WJBC: Illinois lawmakers get an update on nursing homes
Helping kick off a series of legislative hearings about nursing homes – eighteen months into the pandemic – State Rep. Mary Flowers (D-Chicago) hardly sounded a vote of confidence.
“We need to encourage more seniors to stay in their homes,” said Flowers. “The assisted living facilities (are) not a safe place for people who are in need of care.”