Chicago - A message from the station manager

The [Thursday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

“Weeks of clear skies over Los Angeles, New Delhi, Wuhan and other smoggy, soot-choked cities are signs of how the coronavirus lockdown improved air quality around the planet,” the Tribune reports.
“Animated satellite maps and daily reports from monitoring networks back what people see with their own eyes. In city after city, levels of lung-damaging, life-shortening pollution dropped abruptly as COVID-19 restricted daily commuting and grounded national economies to a halt.
“But for reasons that have yet to be fully explained, people in Chicago and its suburbs aren’t breathing dramatically cleaner air during the pandemic.”
Wow. That’s weird and sad and disappointing. I’d ask why – what is wrong with us? – but the Trib just told me that the reasons have yet to be fully explained. Theories?


“Likely culprits include buildings, factories and diesel engines that burn coal, oil or natural gas. Diesel emissions in particular remain a chronic problem in Chicago, a racially segregated freight hub where rail yards, warehouses and intermodal facilities are concentrated in low-income, predominantly African American and Latino neighborhoods.
“Fewer gasoline-fueled cars might be on expressways and streets these days, but diesel truck and train traffic appears to have remained fairly constant. Modular containers are still exchanged daily between rail cars and semitrailers at more than a dozen intermodal facilities in the city and suburbs.”
There’s lots more; go read the rest.
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The IDES Of May
The governor has not conveyed that he understands how big the problem with his unemployment office is. This is so disappointing.
From his coronavirus briefing on Wednesday, via Capitol Fax:
Screen Shot 2020-05-14 at 6.09.42 AM.png(ENLARGE)
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Meanwhile . . .
“Kathleen Budwitis got through, but the weekly benefit of $198 was far lower than she was owed,” CBS2 Chicago reports.
This is the number that was spit out at me, too, so I wonder if that’s the number everyone is getting, because the odds of me and Kathleen Budwitis having the identical financial profile are pretty long.
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Willie Wilson Is Not A Doctor
First, this:


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Second, this:


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Third, this, from Pritzker’s coronavirus briefing on Wednesday, via Capitol Fax:
Screen Shot 2020-05-14 at 6.13.27 AM.png(ENLARGE)
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Pritzker Bats Clean-Up
“Last thing before I take questions,” he also said at the briefing. “I want to address something that I said yesterday regarding baseball and baseball players. I want to apologize for leaving the impression that baseball players shouldn’t have the right to bargain, or protect their health and safety. I absolutely support that right. I should have made that more clear to you.
Background:


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ChicagoReddit

Where are you riding your bicycle? from r/chicago


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ChicagoGram


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ChicagoTube
“Chicago rapper and activist Common and his criminal justice reform organization Imagine Justice has launched a campaign calling attention to the threat that the coronavirus pandemic poses on millions of men, women and youths who are incarcerated in the U.S.”

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See also, from the Chicago Community Bond Fund on Wednesday:

New Court Filings Reveal That Conditions In Cook County Jail Remain Dire
More than 15 declarations filed in federal court on behalf of people incarcerated in the jail describe unsanitary conditions, a lack of hygiene products, and difficulty social distancing
One day after Sheriff Tom Dart claimed that there was no need for a 2-week-old preliminary injunction ensuring sanitation, testing, social distancing, and the distribution of personal protective equipment at Cook County Jail, attorneys representing people incarcerated in the jail have filed declarations revealing that the Sheriff’s Office is still failing to protect the health of the people in his custody.
Because of their deep-seated concerns with the Sheriff’s handling of COVID-19, last week Plaintiffs filed a request for limited discovery into the Sheriff’s compliance with the injunction. Instead of complying, the Sheriff has opposed Plaintiffs’ at every turn, including declaring his plan to appeal the injunction yesterday.
Plaintiffs requested leave from the court to file a reply on May 12. Attached to that reply were even more detainee declarations decrying the conditions in the jail. Those documents make clear that Plaintiffs are entitled to evidence from the Sheriff about what he is doing to comply with the injunction.
“Since the pandemic began, volunteers with Chicago Community Bond Fund have talked to hundreds of people incarcerated in Cook County Jail about the conditions inside. While this lawsuit has led to some improvements inside the jail, the statements filed on behalf of people incarcerated in the jail today make clear that the Sheriff’s Office is still failing to protect the health of people incarcerated in his jail as required by the court. If the Sheriff were to be left to his own devices without court oversight, as he wishes, it is clear that even more lives will be unnecessarily lost,” said Sharlyn Grace, Executive Director of Chicago Community Bond Fund.
The declarations filed demonstrate clear patterns inside Cook County Jail:
* People are not being tested after coming into contact with other individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19. In some cases, people who are being tested are not quarantined while awaiting their results.
* Protective gloves are unavailable to people incarcerated in the jail and masks are inconsistently distributed.
* Social distancing remains impossible at dining tables, in showers, in day rooms, while using the phone, and in dormitory settings where people continue to sleep less than three feet apart from each other. Nelson Pacheo, who is incarcerated in Division 2 with 89 other people, said that social distancing was “not remotely possible.”
* Commonly used surfaces, such as tables, phones, microwaves, and television remotes are rarely cleaned.
* Cleaning supplies are inadequate and not readily available. Darrion Hawkins described waiting five days to be given a rag to clean with.
* Two small bars of soap are distributed once every one to two weeks. Detainees are forced to use these small bars for hand washing, showering, cleaning their cells, and in some cases, cleaning their clothes. One person mentioned not having received a change of clothes in more than a week.
* Guards are regularly not wearing protective gear, including while distributing masks, meals, and commissary items to detainees.
* Detainees have repeatedly filed grievance slips that have not been responded to. In many cases, guards refused to even accept grievances.
Dominik Baster is currently hospitalized in Division 8 due to cirrhosis of the liver and high blood pressure. He is only in the jail because he cannot afford to pay a $5,000 bond. He is among the more than 700 people currently incarcerated in Cook County Jail because they cannot pay a bond of $10,000 or less. Mr. Baster has not been able to see a doctor for two months despite his severe condition. He is being housed with 39 other people whose beds are less than four feet apart from each other. Multiple people in Mr. Baster’s dorm have died from COVID-19, including William Sobczyk, who passed away last week. Prior to Mr.Sobcyzk’s death, Mr. Baster watched him be denied medical attention multiple times even while he was repeatedly vomiting and falling out of his bed.
On April 29th, Renaldo Almond’s bond was paid, allowing him to be released onto Sheriff’s electronic monitoring. After he changed into his street clothes to be discharged, Mr. Almond was informed that he was going back to Division 2 because the Sheriff’s Office had run out of electronic monitoring equipment. Today, Mr. Almond’s life remains at risk. He is still incarcerated in Division 2 along with approximately 100 other people. In the dorm in Division 2, the beds are a mere two feet apart and three showers and five toilets are shared between 100 people. Mr. Almond reports having gone a week and a half without receiving soap. The deck is a “revolving door,” with people being taken back and forth from Cermak Health Services.
Antonio White has a compromised immune system caused by an HIV infection. He has not been able to receive medication nor has he been able to have his blood tested to monitor his condition because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. White also suffers from asthma. He is among many medically vulnerable people being incarcerated in these dangerous conditions. Mr. White described not having been given soap or access to hand sanitizer and only occasionally receiving PPE. Multiple people have been removed from his dorm due to COVID-19 and yet Mr. White has not been tested, even after multiple requests. He remains incarcerated in Cook County Jail only because he can’t afford to pay a money bond.
“The declarations that have been filed in this lawsuit about the conditions inside the Cook County jail should alarm every person of conscience. We will continue to press forward in court and in every other forum available to us to protect the lives of those who remain inside the health hazard that is the Cook County Jail,” said Alec Karakatsanis, Founder and Executive Director of Civil Rights Corps.
“In the Sheriff’s most recent filing, he asserted that this lawsuit was ‘stoking further anxiety, frustration, and unrest in the jail, which has manifested in detainee misconduct.’ This is a shocking claim. It is not the litigation but the life-threatening virus that keeps incarcerated people on edge and in fear for their lives. Further court oversight is required to protect the people incarcerated in Cook County Jail,” said Alexa Van Brunt, Director of the MacArthur Justice Center Clinic at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.

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Plus, from the Sun-Times: COVID-19 Outbreak Among Inmates At MCC In Chicago Among Largest Across The System.
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BeachBook
He Was A Science Star. Then He Promoted A Questionable Cure For COVID-19.

More than questionable; a fake cure with fake data behind it. And a star? Not for a long time. Brilliant? Yes, at one time. A dangerous charlatan? Also yes.
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Praying Mantises: More Deadly Than We Knew.

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TweetWood
A sampling of the delight and disgust you can find @BeachwoodReport.
“Reopening” is delusional. People will die. We’re not ready for it.


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The Beachwood Q-Tip Line: Tested.

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Posted on May 14, 2020