Gov. JB Pritzker has lifted all restrictions on churches in Illinois after a challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court, and has issued a set of guidelines instead.
SUPREME COURT UPDATE: Justice Kavanaugh has entered an order, requiring Governor Pritzker to respond to churchs’ emergency injunction application BY THURSDAY (tonight)at 8 pm.
At the same time, in another emergency petition arising out of the Ninth Circuit, handled by my good friend Paul M. Jonna and his colleagues, Justice Kagan has ordered Governor Newsom of California to respond, also by 8 pm on Thursday night.
This is a GREAT sign. And lightning fast. Most of these early-stage injunction petitions die without any response/action. This move by Kavanaugh and Kagan indicate strong interest by the Court to at least LOOK at this issue of reopening Churches BEFORE another Sunday passes.
Former Chicago mayoral candidate, community activist and businessman Dr. Willie Wilson sent a letter to Washington, D.C. to enlist the support of President Trump and Attorney General William Barr in the dispute regarding houses of worship.
In the letter, Wilson complained about Mayor Lightfoot and the citations the city issued and disorderly conduct charges filed against the churches.
Wilson said that if places that sell alcohol are allowed to be considered essential services, so should churches.
“The problem with the mayor and also the governor is that they put themselves above the law,” said Wilson. “And I understand this Sunday, they were supposed to give a ticket to the people who come to service. This is not China or the Soviet Union. This is America where we have rights.”
Wilson has offered to pay those fines.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh ordered Pritzker to respond to the churches by 8 p.m. Thursday.
Just hours before, the Illinois Department of Public Health issued a set of guidelines for churches, none of which are mandatory.
The guidelines encourage churches to avoid in-person activity and continue to hold remote services, or allow congregants to meet outdoors.
I’m sure it will be a surprise to JB but by pure coincidence, the government spent $ 9 million dollars to work on facilities that never opened. I paraphrase our last (of several) federally convicted felon Illinois Governor, “This is fucking golden.” I hope they have a cell big enough.
Illinois politicians have no shame. Long known that there is little difference between Democrats and Republicans in the state legislature. Still known as “the combine”. Just a big pile of corrupt shit. Many hope JB ends up as our third of last four governors in the federal pen.
Is it just a coincidence the contractor involved in Pritzker’s private construction projects got coronavirus contracts?
A detail tucked in a Fox 32 investigative report about Illinois contractors trekking across the border to build a new mansion at Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Wisconsin horse farm raised the eyebrow of somebody who knows how deals get done in America’s most corrupt state.
The “dwelling contractor” listed on Wisconsin building permits, Bulley & Andrews, is the same company caught up in the alleged “scheme to defraud” Cook County taxpayers by removing toilets from one of Pritzker’s Gold Coast mansions. The toilet scheme is still being investigated by the feds.
In April, Bulley & Andrews scored a taxpayer funded firm-fixed-price contract worth nearly $9 million to convert the former WestLake Hospital in Melrose Park into a COVID-19 acute-care site. The contractor also worked as a subcontractor doing similar work at Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin. Both jobs got done, but neither site opened
Pritzker’s administration didn’t respond to a request for an interview about the state’s role coordinating the work on the alternate COVID-19 treatment sites with the federal government.
So, I didn’t get the chance to ask: Is it just a coincidence the contractor involved in construction projects (and toilet removals) at Pritzker’s mansions scored the lucrative work tied to the governor’s coronavirus response?
Sure, I could have snuck a question in at Pritzker’s daily televised pandemic updates, filed a series of Freedom of Information requests, appealed the administration’s almost certain denial and tried to convince the boss to pony up for an expensive legal fight in the name of “gotcha” journalism.
But really, that’s a waste of time. During the pandemic, I’ve learned from experience that the Pritzker administration dodges questions, ignores interview requests and blocks access to public information with vigor. The rest is details.
That’s why I wasn’t shocked over the holiday weekend when Pritzker put out a public statement disavowing a provision tucked in “Restore Illinois” legislation that would have limited access to public information.
Simple acts of reporting made it clear to me that the governor’s administration doesn’t need any help or extra time keeping secrets from the public.
Around the time we first learned African-Americans were the hardest hit by the pandemic, the state didn’t just deny my request for coronavirus death demographics.
An Illinois Department of Public Health department lawyer called to warn me that possession of data from the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Officer (which I attached to my request as an example of the demographic information I was seeking) violated federal laws.
“You better call a lawyer,” the state lawyer yelled.
In April, my FOIA request for personal protective equipment invoices and an accounting of the state’s pre-pandemic PPE stockpile (and before Pritzker started blaming President Trump for a shortage) got denied like I was asking for wartime secrets. I asked for the documents because a public health department insider told me the state hadn’t replenished stockpiles in 2019.
The public health department’s denial cited provisions in state law prohibiting the release of “vulnerability assessments, security measures, and response policies or plans that are designed to identify, prevent, or respond to potential attacks upon a community’s population or systems, facilities, or installations, the destruction or contamination of which would constitute a clear and present danger to the health or safety of the community,” and a bunch of other things that I did not ask for.
All I wanted to know was what the state’s stockpile looked like before the governor put taxpayers on the hook for those secretly chartered flights to an overpriced PPE shopping trip in China while nurses shared masks as they treated early COVID-19 patients.
The administration could easily have answered those straight forward questions over the phone.
But the coronavirus crisis has taught us that upfront honesty isn’t how Pritzker governs.
It’s not the way big money deals always get done in Illinois, either.
Hey Lori! Stop worrying about churches being open, guarding the lake front from joggers, looking for family picnics and let’s not forget enforcement of wearing a masks and let the police be police and stop the crime.
Ten people are dead and 38 others are wounded so far in weekend shootings in Chicago — the deadliest Memorial Day weekend since 2015, when 12 people were killed.
Despite the state’s stay-at-home order, the weekend’s death toll has already surpassed last year’s holiday weekend, when seven people were killed and 34 were injured during the period from 5 p.m. Friday through 5 a.m. Tuesday.
In 2018, seven people died and 30 others were wounded. In 2017, six people were killed and 44 others were wounded. In 2016, six people were killed and 56 wounded.
At the beginning of Memorial Day weekend — the unofficial start of summer — Chicago Police Supt. David Brown announced opening a Summer Operations Center to centralize police resources in an effort to tamp down on summer gun violence.
Pastor Lewis said Christian pastors are under attack in Chicago and they need help: “All we are seeking is the same consideration and trust that is being tendered toward the liquor stores, abortion clinics and Walmart,” he told the Todd Starnes Show.
Courtney Lewis, the pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Chicago, was in the middle of his sermon when he heard loud banging on front doors. It was the police and they were denied entry into the sanctuary.
Chicago Mayor Lightfoot gave the brush off to President Donald Trump:
Mayor Lori Lightfoot had dispatched three squad cards and two unmarked cars filled with armed officers. A representative from the mayor’s office was also present.
Pastor Lewis said the intent was to shut down their Sunday services. It was “like the Soviet-style KGB,” he said.
“The only thing she hasn’t done yet is beat the doors down and arrest our members,” the pastor said.
Pastor Lewis tells the Todd Starnes Radio Show that the men of the church were instructed not to open the doors during the services — per protocol.
“Thankfully our doors were locked as a normal safety precaution we take each service to protect our members from the escalating gun violence in Chicago,” the pastor said.
A church usher, who is typically positioned outside the building during the services, saw the mayor’s goon force attempt to enter the building and began taking photographs.
Even more disturbing, an individual in an unmarked car with tinted windows was seen filming and photographing church members as they arrived to worship Jesus Christ.
“The mayor wants to educate everyone into compliance – which means intimidate,” the pastor said.
Rev. Lewis wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney John Lausch pleading for help and protection against the city’s Democrat mayor and her jackbooted thugs.
He said the church has gone out of its way to follow CDC guidelines by having online services, outdoor services and engaging in social distancing. All church members must also have their temperature taken before entering the sanctuary.
“We are trying to follow the laws of man as much as reasonably possible but when the laws of man conflict with the laws of God I as a pastor have a duty to follow the laws of God,” he wrote. “We will not be intimidated by this overhanded government bully, but we are requesting the assistance of our president and our Justice Department in correcting this grave miscarriage of the law.”
Pastor Lewis said Christian pastors are under attack in Chicago and they need help.
“All we are seeking is the same consideration and trust that is being tendered toward the liquor stores, abortion clinics and Walmart,” he told the Todd Starnes Show.
Michael McHaney of Clay County had this to say at the conclusion of the case he heard yesterday afternoon (Mainer v Pritzker) in the Clay County courtroom:
“Since the inception of this insanity, the following regulations, rules or consequences have occurred: I won’t get COVID if I get an abortion, but I will get COVID if I get a colonoscopy. Selling pot is essential, but selling goods and services at a family owned business is not. Pot wasn’t even legal and pot dispensaries didn’t even exist in this state until five months ago and, in that five months, they have become essential, but a family-owned business in existence for five generations is not.
Judge McHaney
A family of six can pile in their car and drive to Carlyle Lake without contracting COVID but, if they all get in the same boat, they will. We are told that kids rarely contract the virus and sunlight kills it, but summer youth programs, sports programs are cancelled. Four people can drive to the golf course and not get COVID but, if they play in a foursome, they will. If I go to Walmart, I won’t get COVID but, if I go to church, I will. Murderers are released from custody while small business owners are threatened with arrest if they have the audacity to attempt to feed their families.
These are just a few of examples of rules, regulations and consequences that are arbitrary, capricious, and completely devoid of anything even remotely approaching common sense.
State’s attorneys in this state, county sheriffs, mayors, city councils and county boards have openly and publicly defied these orders followed by threats to withhold funding and revocation of necessary licenses and certifications unless you obey. Our economy is shut down because of a flu virus with a 98 percent plus survival rate. Doctors and experts say different things weekly. The defendant cites models in his opposition. The only thing experts will agree on is that all models are wrong and some are useful.
The Centers for Disease Control now says the virus is not easily spread on surfaces. The defendant in this case orders you to stay home and pronounces that, if you leave the state, you are putting people in danger, but his family members traveled to Florida and Wisconsin because he deems such travel essential. One initial rationale why the rules don’t apply to him is that his family farm had animals that needed fed. Try selling that argument to farmers who have had to slaughter their herds because of disruption in the supply chain.
When laws do not apply to those who make them, people are not being governed, they are being ruled. Make no mistake, these executive orders are not laws. They are royal decrees. Illinois citizens are not being governed, they are being ruled. The last time I checked, Illinois citizens are also Americans and Americans don’t get ruled. The last time a monarch tried to rule Americans, a shot was fired that was heard around the world. That day led to the birth of a nation consensually governed based upon a document which ensures that on this day in this, any American courtroom tyrannical despotism will always lose and liberty, freedom and the constitution will always win.”—Judge Michael D. McHaney, Clay County court, Mainer v. Pritzker, argued May 22, 2020.
Thank you, Judge McHaney. You said it beautifully.
The Illinois House just voted for a $42.8 billion dollar budget. This budget actually INCREASES spending by $2 billion!!! In the midst of declining revenue during this financial crisis. To top it all off, it also includes a PAY RAISE for lawmakers. Unbelievable!!
Thank goodness our current State Representative Bradley Stephens voted against all of this. ✅ Increase Spending ✅ Increase Debt ✅ Get a raise!
Last night (or this morning) at 1:15 am while you were asleep how did the Illinois Democrats in Springfield address 20% unemployment, families losing their life savings and the financial strain of this pandemic? Did you think they might show empathy and vote to cut their pay (already near the highest in the country) 20% like many people have had to do to keep their jobs in the private sector? If you guessed that you are wrong. For the second time in 12 months the Democrats in Springfield voted themselves a PAY RAISE. Good morning!
After weeks of doing nothing, our “essential” state government late last night passed a budget that includes the following.
Includes a $1,800 pay raise for legislators.
Spends almost $43 billion despite revenues totaling roughly $37 billion.
The remaining budget hole is financed on THE HOPE OF A massive federal government bailout that I am sure the Feds will be more than happy to just hand out to a broke, corrupt state.
With the $5 billion in new debt and approximately $6 billion in a not yet set federal bailout, the state plans to spend $11 billion more than they plan to bring in.
And you all were complaining that that new math doesn’t work. PFFTT
“Americans seem to accept the restrictions on our rights to speech, religion, travel and commercial activities simply because the origin of those restrictions is a popularly elected person.”
Our Communities and YOUR Families deserve better!
Our Illinois Democrats just voted to give all the legislators a pay raise! This is the second year in a row they got a pay raise!. They are the fifth highest paid legislators in the nation while the state is the worst run state in the Union.
the graphic shared shows 11 Not Voting. The ILGA website show 68 Y, 44N and 1 NV.
They also voted for a budget that is $2 billion more than last year. Indiana, though, just a day ago CUT their budget 15%.
It also includes about $5 billion more in debt.
Meanwhile, we are in an economic crisis! Over one million Illinoisans lost their job in the last 9 weeks. Small businesses – and large- are closing their doors for good. Many others had significant pay cuts. What the hell is the matter with these people?
Well, here’s the deal. They are counting on you forgetting about this by Novemeber. They are especially counting on the Democrats plodding along to continue to vote them back into office and others to be bedazzzled and confused by glossy mailers that lie about their positions to sway voters to vote for them again. They are counting on the special interests to fund their campaigns.
And – they are counting on a federal bailout from Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Casten. And they are counting on being out of office with their hefty pension before it all comes tumbling down.
The US Department of Justice on Friday intervened in an Illinois case that has the potential to invalidate the state’s stay-at-home order implemented by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker — while also writing to the mayor of Los Angeles to warn that a lengthy lockdown could be “arbitrary and unlawful.”
US DOJ says Governor Pritzker went too far
The DOJ filed a statement of interest in support of a lawsuit by state lawmaker Rep. Darren Bailey, who has sought to challenge Pritzker’s stay-at-home restrictions — challenging whether he can keep the restrictions in place longer than the 30 days allowed by state law.
“In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Governor of Illinois has, over the past two months, sought to rely on authority under the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act to impose sweeping limitations on nearly all aspects of life for citizens of Illinois, significantly impairing in some instances their ability to maintain their economic livelihoods,” the agency said in a statement.
Continuing, the DOJ said: “According to the lawsuit, the Governor’s actions are not authorized by state law, as they extend beyond the 30-day time period imposed by the Illinois legislature for the Governor’s exercise of emergency powers granted under the Act.”
Bailey last month won a lawsuit against the stay-at-home order, seeking to prevent the governor “from taking any action … which orders Darren Bailey to stay at home, or at his place of residence, as well as limiting his ability to travel within the state…”
The DOJ said that Pritzker, instead of responding to a motion for summary judgement, has sought to have the case removed to federal district court
“The Governor of Illinois owes it to the people of Illinois to allow his state’s courts to adjudicate the question of whether Illinois law authorizes orders he issued to respond to COVID-19,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband for the Civil Rights Division in a statement. “The United States Constitution and state constitutions established a system of divided and limited governmental power, and they did so to secure the blessings of liberty to all people in our country.“
“Under our system, all public officials, including governors, must comply with the law, especially during times of crisis. The Department of Justice remains committed to defending the rule of law and the American people at all times, especially during this difficult time as we deal with COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
“However well-intentioned they may be, the executive orders appear to reach far beyond the scope of the 30-day emergency authority granted to the Governor under Illinois law,” Steven Weinhoeft, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, said.
The governor has defended his orders, and has criticized Bailey for taking the legal action.
“It’s insulting. It’s dangerous and people’s safety and health have now been put at risk,” Pritzker said, according to the Associated Press. “There may be people who contract coronavirus as a result of what Darren Bailey has done.”
The statement of interest marks the latest intervention by the DOJ in lawsuits against state coronavirus restrictions. In April, Attorney General William Barr announced an initiative directing officials to review coronavirus restrictions to ensure that civil liberties are not being violated.
On Friday Assistant Attorney Eric Dreiband also wrote to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and L.A. County’s health director, warning that a longer-term lockdown “may be arbitrary and unlawful.”
Both Garcetti and Health Director Barbara Ferrer have suggested restrictions could be in place for months, with Ferrer saying that stay-at-home restrictions will be in place “for the next three months” unless a vaccine is discovered.
In the letter, the DOJ said that it “recognizes and appreciates the duty that you have to protect the health and safety of the residents of the Los Angeles area in the midst of a pandemic that is unprecedented in our lifetimes.”
“Governmental authority, however, is not limitless, and must be exercised reasonably,” the letter says.
“Even in times of emergency, when governments may impose reasonable and temporary restrictions, the Constitution and federal statutory law prohibit arbitrary, unreasonable actions,” it says. “Simply put, there is no pandemic exception to the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights.”
Meanwhile, President Trump on Friday threatened to “override” governors who refused to allow places of worship to open.
Literally just 10 days ago this was the headline instead on a CenterSquare article –
“Pritzker Warns About Dangers of Crossing Illinois Borders.”
Illinois you elected a man who has ZERO integrity and has never heard the words “Lead by Example.”
I am sorry – but – the Governor is acting like a spoiled brat. The rules never applied to him as a kid obviously and he got away with everything. The man has ZERO integrity and has never heard the words “Lead by Example.”
No one in Illinois should take him seriously. And no one should believe anything that comes out of his mouth.
Ten days ago he says this – “”I am concerned because I think that in many ways that opening too early – or the potential spread of the virus in those states – will affect our metrics in Illinois,” Pritzker said during a video news conference from his home in Chicago. “So, I understand that people may cross over the border, but I think they should take into account the danger – the potential anyway – for the spread of the virus and their ability to carry that virus back over the border when they come back, bring it to their family and their community, affecting not only the health and safety of their community but also the ability of their region to meet the metrics we’ve set.”
Yesterday in response to the report on construction workers traveling to his home in WI from IL he says this, “”First of all they’re operating an essential function. Construction is an essential function. And second of all, they’re union employees that are going to do the work that they do. And I’ve never said people can’t cross the border to another state,” Pritzker said Thursday.
The Illinois Tollway board on Thursday approved agreements with two major railroads, which will make possible long-anticipated western highway access into O’Hare International Airport.The agreement with the Soo Line Railroad Co., doing business as Canadian Pacific, and Union Pacific Railroad provides the Tollway with the property rights it needs to build a planned beltway around O’Hare.When it is finished, Illinois Route 390 east toward the airport will connect with a new north-south tollway to be called Interstate 490, which would stretch along the airport’s western border. The new tollway would connect with Interstate 90 to the north and the Tri-State Tollway to the south.The toll authority has argued that western highway access is crucial to an expanded O’Hare. The Tollway has been trying to get the right to do the construction for years, and sued Canadian Pacific over access in 2016.Work on the I-490 Tollway must cross the Union Pacific Railroad and the Canadian Pacific at several places, including in the Canadian Pacific’s Bensenville Yard. The project will require relocating Canadian Pacific tracks.The agreements also provide the Tollway with property rights that will help in the construction of Cook County’s planned improvements to Touhy Avenue, which include replacing the at-grade crossing at the Union Pacific Railroad with a new bridge that will ease congestion and improve access to the north side of the airport.The agreements call for the Tollway to spend roughly $250 million on land, construction access rights, air rights, business impacts and future structural maintenance costs associated with the I-490 project, spokesman Dan Rozek said.While the Tollway can now begin portions of I-490 construction as early as this fall, there are a handful of final steps, including the completion of an environmental study for review by the Federal Aviation Administration and agreements with the Chicago Department of Aviation.Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin, and Reps. Mike Quigley and Raja Krishnamoorthi, all Illinois Democrats, issued statements praising the agreement.“The Elgin O’Hare Western Access Project is vital to the future of northeastern Illinois’s transportation network, and today’s vote is a critical milestone toward construction of this project,” Duckworth said.The new I-490 Tollway is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2025 and will carry north-south traffic around the western border of O’Hare and provide access to the airport, according to the Tollway. The Illinois Route 390 Tollway, which currently carries east-west traffic between Lake Street (Illinois Route 20) and Illinois Route 83, will include an interchange connection to I-490.The planned O’Hare expansion, the biggest and most expensive in the airport’s 75-year history, is supposed to be finished by the end of 2028. The plans include the addition of a new Global Terminal and three new concourses, and is mostly funded by passenger fees, landing fees and other income.Chicago’s Aviation Department has said the coronavirus pandemic won’t interfere with the expansion plan, despite major financial losses for airlines as air travel has plummeted.
Pritzker not giving up. Yesterday, Kwame Raoul issued an AG opinion that reimagines the meaning of Section 7 of the Emergency Management Agency Act to give the Governor authority to exercise emergency powers for successive 30 day periods to address infectious diseases, contrary to an AG opinion issued in 2001.
Gov Pritzker withdrew his rule to penalize IL businesses who defy his Exec Order, as he did not have the votes in JCAR to uphold his rule. IDPH repeals the Gov’s Emergency Rule.
IMPORTANT: The Illinois Department of Public Health’s Guidance Enforcement of Governor Pritzker’s Exec. Orders 2020-10 & 18 states that if you do not adhere, the DPH has authority pursuant to the Department of Public Health Act (20 ILCS 2035/I.1 et seq.) to order that a place be closed and made off limits to the public “to prevent the probable spread of a dangerously contagious or infectious disease … until such time as the condition can be corrected or the danger to the public health eliminated or reduced in such a manner that no substantial danger to the public’s health any longer exists.”
BUT …. the Public Health Act also provides:
The Department’s decision to quarantine or isolate (including close) may only be done “on an immediate basis without prior consent or court order if, in the reasonable judgment of the Department, immediate action is required to protect the public from a dangerously contagious or infectious disease.” Sec. 2(c).
In the event of an immediate order issued without prior consent or court order, the Department shall, as soon as practical, within 48 hours after issuing the order, obtain the consent of the person or owner or file a petition requesting a court order authorizing the isolation or quarantine or closure.” Sec. 2(c).
“To obtain a court order, the Department, by clear and convincing evidence (A HIGH EVIDENTIARY STANDARD), must prove that the public’s health and welfare are significantly endangered by a person or group of persons that has, that is suspected of having, that has been exposed to, or that is reasonably believed to have been exposed to a dangerously contagious or infectious disease including non-compliant tuberculosis patients or by a place where there is a significant amount of activity likely to spread a dangerously contagious or infectious disease. The Department must also prove that all other reasonable means of correcting the problem have been exhausted and no less restrictive alternative exists.” Sec. 2(c).
“in determining whether no less restrictive alternative exists, the court shall consider evidence showing that, under the circumstances presented by the case in which an order is sought, quarantine or isolation is the measure provided for in a rule of the Department or in guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the World Health Organization.” Sec 2(c).
“Persons who are ordered to be isolated or quarantined or who are owners of places that are ordered to be closed and made off limits to the public, shall be given a written notice of such order. The written notice shall additionally include the following: (1) notice of the right to counsel; (2) notice that if the person or owner is indigent, the court will appoint counsel for that person or owner; (3) notice of the reason for the order for isolation, quarantine, or closure; (4) notice of whether the order is an immediate order, and if so, the time frame for the Department to seek consent or to file a petition requesting a court order as set out in this subsection; and (5) notice of the anticipated duration of the isolation, quarantine, or closure.” Sec 2(c).
An April 21 memo from the Illinois Appellate Prosecutor’s Office to the Governor concludes that the Governor’s shut down order and its extension have indeed infringed on citizens’ rights, although that infringement may be justified. The civil rights in question include, but are not limited to due process, freedom of religion and freedom of assembly. Memo concludes that there may be potential civil liability for Illinois, that Article V did not give Pritzker the power to suspend Illinois residents’ constitutional rights, that he does not have the power to organize the militia to suppress insurrection or enforce laws. This explains why Pritzker has left enforcement of the stay-at-home order to the local law enforcement.
The mayor made it illegal to go to church!
THANKS WILLIE…
Chicago police fine 3 churches for violating stay-at-home order; businessman Willie Wilson says he’ll pay
📷
Businessman Willie Wilson puts on his face mask after speaking at a news conference at the Thompson Center in Chicago demanding Gov. J.B. Pritzker to amend his executive order mandate regarding face masks on May 12, 2020. Following through with Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s promise to take action against churches that violate social distancing rules, the Chicago Police Department issued $500 fines to three separate houses of worship that held services over the weekend, city officials said.Police cited Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church, Philadelphia Romanian Church of God and Metro Praise International for their services.Police also acknowledged temporarily banning parking near churches “as a precaution to prevent planned large gatherings from taking place.”“The Chicago Police Department has been working to ensure full compliance with the (stay-at-home) order,” the department said. “As part of this effort, we continue to ask everyone to help slow the spread of the virus by staying home and practicing social distancing so that once we have begun to recover and reopen, residents can return to their religious services in a safe manner.”Gospel singer and businessman Willie Wilson, meanwhile, released a statement saying he would pay the fines. Wilson ran for mayor in 2019 and won several African American wards in the election’s first round, then endorsed Lightfoot against Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.Their relationship frayed last year, however, and he’s been an outspoken critic of Lightfoot and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s handling of the stay-at-home order for churches.“The governor and mayor continue to trample on our constitutional rights while hiding behind a stay-at-home order that treats the church as non-essential,” he said in a statement.On Monday, Lightfoot said the city would be fining churches that had more people than allowed under the statewide stay-at-home order during the weekend.Lightfoot spent last week asking churches to abide by social distancing rules and warning that she would take action against churches that refused.But on Sunday, hundreds of people defied Pritzker’s stay-at-home order to attend church anyway, and the mayor’s office warned that violators may be cited after review.📷Breaking News Newsletter The dispute kicked off a week ago after Metro Praise International Church on the Northwest Side opened its doors for in-person services in an act that church officials described as “passive resistance” to Pritzker’s ongoing stay-at-home order.That defiance led Lightfoot to tweet, “It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’re doing. When you gather like this, you are putting yourself and your loved ones in serious danger.”Wilson spoke at Philadelphia Romanian Church of God over the weekend.“I tell everybody this year, wherever I go, practice your social distancing, do what the signs say, do what the laws say, but don’t ever put the law before God,” Wilson said during the services.
I have good news to share:
The experts have indicated we can build on our plan to bring back more activities faster, as long as Illinoisans continue to do as we have, adhering to precautions & safety measures to keep each other safe.
The epidemiologists now believe that restaurants can open for outdoor seating when Phase 3 begins, likely for everyone just 9 days from now.
With the right restrictions – tables six feet apart and away from sidewalks, masks and distancing measures for staff, and other precautions – the experts believe these services can open at a risk comparable to other outdoor activities and give businesses a much-needed boost.
Phase 3 also permits all gatherings – not just essential ones – of 10 people or fewer. That means if you want to go enjoy a picnic in the park or a walk with 9 other people, you can – just remember to wear a mask or a face covering when social distance can’t be maintained.
Newly allowed in Phase 3:
Boating or camping with up to ten people is welcome.
Golf courses can allow foursomes out on the same tee times.
All state parks can reopen with staffing and safety measures.
As we’ve already laid out: Personal care services, one-on-one personal training in indoor facilities and outdoor fitness classes of up to ten people can take place with safety precautions.
All retail stores – basically any store that wasn’t already open as an essential business – can choose to open their doors to in-person shopping with IDPH safety precautions and capacity limits in place.
In the coming days, we’ll be releasing formal industry-specific guidance developed in consultation with business owners and employees, particularly around workplaces and child care.
I want to offer just a note of concern that I hope everyone will take to heart:
The virus has not gone away.
We have followed the science and we’re succeeding, but we can’t let up now.
We’ve come too far and made so much progress because we’ve kept social distance, worn face coverings in public, washed our hands frequently, and taken care of our most vulnerable to the best of our ability.
Roy F. McCampbell's Blog 