The latest
State coronavirus budget includes two secret chartered flights from Shanghai
Gov. J.B. Pritzker is planning to obtain millions of masks and gloves from China and bring those supplies back to Illinois on charter jets — but he’s keeping the details secret out of fear the Trump administration might seize the cargo for the federal stockpile, sources said Tuesday.
Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza announced Tuesday that the state has spent more than $174 million on purchases related to COVID-19, including supplies such as ventilators, masks, gloves, gowns, protective eyewear and hand sanitizer.
But one of the items on the list of expenditures was unusual: two invoices, each for $888,275, to FedEx Trade Networks Transport for “aircraft charter flight to Shanghai, China for COVID-19 response. … Prepayment required.”
Jordan Abudayyeh, the press secretary for Pritzker, wouldn’t provide details about the flights, including when they will happen, how many there will be and what the routes are.
Read the full story from reporter Frank Main.
News
8:26 a.m. People staying home or nearby discover the wild wonder of what is outside
With people sequestered at home, and perhaps looking out their windows more, Dale Bowman reports that he’s seen more animal stories come in the last three weeks with the stay-at-home edict than in the last half year.
Photos and stories of red foxes, pelicans, an early hummingbird and more are today’s report.
Read the full story here.
6:18 a.m. Nursing home workers claim they were fired over demands for more PPE
Three nursing home workers accused three Chicago-area facilities Tuesday afternoon for wrongfully firing or suspending them after they raised safety issues.
Greg Kelley, president of SEIU Healthcare Illinois, said these were just a few instances during the COVID-19 pandemic where union members’ concerns were being disregarded by nursing home owners.
Kelley said workers at Bridgeview Health Care Center, Alden Lakeland and Berkeley Nursing & Rehab Center brought their concerns to management but were “disrespected, insulted and have in fact been fired” for raising issues with their employers.
“These employers seem to care more about maintaining their profits than the safety of those who live and work in their facility,” Kelley said.
Read the full story by Manny Ramos here.
New Cases
Analysis & Commentary
6:45 a.m. King Donald can’t reopen America alone, but neither can governors
Imagine, if you will, that President Trump announces in two or three weeks that it’s time for life to get back to normal in the United States.
Go ahead, folks! Go to church again, reopen your restaurant, get back to work at the factory, visit Grandma in the nursing home.
Imagine, too, that Gov. J.B. Pritzker — or another governor — says “hell no” to all that.
Stay put right where you are, people! Keep hunkering down at home. Now’s no time to let up on social distancing. The coronavirus is on the run but not beaten.
To whom would you listen? The president or the governor?
Millions of Americans no doubt would take their cue from Trump while others would stick with their state’s governor — and the result could be chaos. Continued efforts to thwart the spread of the virus might be undermined as some people return to their normal lives, even as the economy would be thrown into a conflict-loaded limbo, part open and part closed.
