Chicago - A message from the station manager

The [Tuesday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

“Gov. J.B. Pritzker has said there is no real backlog on jobless claims in Illinois,” CBS2 Chicago reports.
“But on Monday night, our sources said the backlog is real, and getting longer by the day.”


This is not a good look for Pritzker, who apparently is using a different definition of the word “backlog” than the rest of us.
Pritzker on Saturday:
“[T]here is not a backlog in the sense of people have filed something in there and it’s not officially filed. People go online, they create an account and they fill it out and that is then a filing.”
Okay, that’s not the “sense” that we’re talking about. Sure, we can all sign up to get in line, but that puts us nowhere near to getting our benefits.
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Pritzker on Monday:
“[T]here really isn’t a backlog at this point. So people who are having trouble, there’s something, there’s typically an issue with their claim.”
Even if that were true – which it isn’t – it still constitutes a backlog when a significant number of people’s claims haven’t been worked through.
How significant?
“[An Illinois Department of Employment Security] employee sent a screenshot of unemployment claims that are yet to be adjudicated – 12,440 to be exact,” CBS2 reports. “All are out-of-work people waiting for interviews to find out if they can even get benefits.
“The IDES employee said most were filed back in March and won’t even get interviewed until late this month – if then.
“And that’s not counting people who still can’t file a claim or certify.”
Like me! As a sole proprietor who should qualify under expanded emergency eligibility, I have to wait until at least May 11 to try to file a claim.
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Clarifying? I guess I need to go ahead and get denied first . . . I wonder if there’s a backlog for that. (Also, the state previously said gig workers shouldn’t apply until the site was ready for them, so . . . )


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Now, to be fair, there probably isn’t a state in the union that isn’t having this kind of problem. But that doesn’t mean Pritzker should deny it exists – or blame filers.
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P.S.: “Pritzker said there will be an overview of the entire unemployment system later this week to give him, and hopefully the public, a better idea of what is really going on with the filings and the system.”
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Related:
Asked and answered!


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Also: Most Freelance Workers Still Haven’t Gotten Unemployment Or Government Loans.
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Assignment Desk Chicago
Localize.
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That’s A Protection Program, Alright
“Faced with the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump quickly rolled out the Paycheck Protection Program, aiming to keep workers on the payroll at small businesses as business dwindled because of the COVID-19 shutdowns,” the Sun-Times reports.

Among the Chicago-area companies to benefit, records show, were:
– A railcar manufacturer – which secured the maximum $10 million – that closed a factory in Virginia last year and opened a new one in Mexico while paying its CEO $2.1 million in total compensation.
– A clean-energy company in Cicero that told shareholders when it announced its $9.5 million loan that COVID-19 hadn’t harmed its business.
– Two companies that employ thousands of workers – well over the program’s usual 500-employee limit, though businesses also can qualify based on net worth or net income.

These are Today’s Worst People In The Chicago Area.
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Also:
“The SBA permits some businesses, such as restaurants, to treat each location as a separate entity. That allowed the Gibsons steakhouse chain in Chicago to get a loan.

“We applied for it and were fortunate to get some relief,” Gibsons chairman Stephen Lombardo III says, though he would not disclose how much money the company got.

Embarrassed?
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I’ve changed my mind. Stephen Lombardo III is Today’s Worst Person In Chicago.
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New on the Beachwood today . . .
America’s Renters vs. Sam Zell
“While one of his companies, Equity Residential, announced freezes on evictions for April, May and June in response to the coronavirus crisis, they simultaneously increased rents.”
You don’t have to go, you just have to pay more!
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“Every weekday morning, Zell confers with his managers on a Zoom call from his office overlooking the Chicago River. Recently, he’s been briefed on the situation at Equity Residential, his largest publicly traded company,” Bloomberg reports (via Crain’s).
“Shares of the real estate investment trust, one of the biggest apartment owners in the U.S., are down almost 30% since late February. Rents, however, are holding up well enough that Zell said he doesn’t expect any significant changes in monthly collections.”
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Black Nonbelievers
“Black Nonbelievers connect with other Black folks and allies who have chosen to live without religion. They serve as a community for those who have been otherwise shunned by family and friends.”
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Women’s Collegiate Flag Football On The Way
“Football is for everyone.”
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ChicagoReddit

Trying to find a song that used to be played at Adler Planetarium’s Welcome to the Universe show from r/chicago


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ChicagoGram

View this post on Instagram

#quarantine #doodles #digitalart #contemporaryart #illustration #zz

A post shared by zanazeta (@zana_zeta) on


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ChicagoTube
Chicago Retrograde (feat.Steve Albini)

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BeachBook
Inside The Heartwarming World Of Hot Wheels Collecting.

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Odd Obsession Closing; Putting 25,000 Films In Storage.

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TweetWood
A sampling of the delight and disgust you can find @BeachwoodReport.


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The Beachwood Q-Tip Line: Quirky.

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Posted on May 5, 2020