1 week Ago
It’s time for another round of quick takes on the people, places and events that were being talked about in the news this week: Flu nothing to sneeze at It’s getting to be that time of year. Football season? Well, yes. But flu season? Definitely.
So it’s a good time to pass on a recommendation from The New York Times about “the best time to get a flu shot.” Times reporter Emily Schmall recently reported that “some pharmacy chains” are urging people to “beat the crowds” and get a shot now. Don’t listen to their marketing ploys.
Why? The Times article stated that, “for most people,” it’s too early “to provide protection that will last through the flu season.” The best time to get that shot is “between mid-September and late October,” she reports. “The CDC recommends getting your shot by the end of October at the latest.
” According to the Times, a person’s immunity peaks a week or two after the shot, and “protection lasts five or six months.” The flu season generally lasts from October to the end of March or April. There are exceptions.
The Times reports pregnant women in “their third trimester should get vaccinated now to confer flu immunity on their newborns.” The newspaper also said some children between “six months and eight years need two shots” four weeks apart. Those who don’t meet the calendar’s sweet spot are advised to get a shot, because “protection late in the season is better than none at all.
” The flu can be miserable; symptoms include fever, fatigue, body aches and diarrhea. There were a reported 35 million cases last year, leading to 400,000 hospitalizations and 25,000 deaths. Not in the $$$$$ The state of Illinois’ finances are better than they have been, but the state still faces hard times.
That’s the conclusion of a report prepared by the Pew Charitable Trusts. The report stated Illinois is one of six states that recorded a 15-year shortfall at the end of 2022. Page Forrest, a Pew analyst, said Illinois’ “recorded annual surplus” for the 2021-22 fiscal year was the first “in two decades.
” Unfortunately, while the surplus was “substantial,” it wasn’t “enough to move the needle for the state long-term.” New neighbors? People may be leaving Illinois by the thousands, but black bears are showing a distinct affinity for the Land of Lincoln. Among the latest sightings was a mother black bear and her three cubs roaming around Affton, a community on the St.
Louis side of the Missouri border. Sighting of the bear family on the Missouri side came shortly after a single black bear was spotted in Belleville, a community on the Illinois side. This is hot news in the St.
Louis metro area, where local television stations are hyping the story of beast meeting man and vice versa. Of course, one can’t be too careful about bears, particularly mama bears accompanied by baby bears. A Missouri conservationist urged citizens who make a sighting to engage in “good bear awareness protocols,” meaning “no feeding, approaching or (duh!) threatening them.
” Goldilocks also issued an additional warning urging citizens not to surreptitiously enter a bear’s residence, sit on their furniture or eat their porridge. What’s in a word? Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, whose name is synonymous with corruption in Illinois and Chicago, faces a corruption trial in October that some say could last three months. In preparation, Madigan last week asked the judge to ban the use of the word “corruption” during the proceeding.
Madigan’s lawyers argued that word and others equally pejorative about how business is done here are “unfairly prejudicial” and threaten his right to a fair trial. “These terms are highly prejudicial and will only stigmatize Madigan while offering nothing toward proving the government’s case. These term imply illegality with stigmatizing rhetoric tarnishing the reputation of Madigan in the presence of the jury needlessly and unfairly,” they said in a motion filed with the court.
The defense isn’t the only one seeking to rule certain words and phrases off limits. Prosecutors recently asked the judge to ban the “politics as usual” defense in the Madigan case. He faces a variety of charges, including those in connection with the Commonwealth Edison bribery conspiracy case.
The four defendants in the first trial argued unsuccessfully that lavishing financial favors on Madigan to win his support for company-favored policies is not bribery but “politics as usual” in this state — in other words, how business is done here. ‘I have one word for you. Plastics’ Is this a solution in search of a problem? People will have to answer that question about a new state law for themselves.
Under the Small Single-Use Plastic Bottle Act — signed recently by Gov. J.B.
Pritzker — hotels will soon be banned from providing “single-use plastic bottles containing personal care products like lotion or shower gel to sleeping guests.” A recent news account said the law “applies to all bottles in guest rooms and public restrooms that contain personal care products and are smaller than 6 ounces and not intended for re-use.” Does that mean 7-ounce containers are coming? Or will travelers have to fend for themselves? Violation penalties range from written warnings to $500 fines.
The law takes effect for hotels with 50 rooms or more next July 1 and applies to hotels with less than 50 rooms six months later, Jan. 1, 2026. But who’s going to enforce it? How far are authorities willing to go to do so? Backers of the law say it is intended to reduce excessive plastic use in hotels.
From what famous movie does the “plastics” line come from? “The Graduate.” Young graduate Ben Braddock is advised there’s a great future in plastics. Down and dirty DuPage County officials, after fussing with County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek, are backing up their angry words with actions.
The dispute is similar to the political war between Champaign County Auditor George Danos and Democratic county board members. Last week, DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin asked a local judge to issue a writ of mandamus requiring the county clerk to comply with county regulations so the county auditor can pay the clerk’s bills. If there was an issue that didn’t need to go to court, this would appear to be it.
But there’s bad blood between Democrat Kaczmarek and Democrat county board Chairman Deb Conroy, and litigation is the result. The court filing contends Kaczmarek refuses to indicate from where in her budget her office bills should be paid when a budget line item has insufficient funds. Kaczmarek has previously argued the auditor can bill her office’s bills from her office’s general appropriation and does not need to rely on a specific line item.
This dispute has become a significant controversy in DuPage County because a number of vendors who have performed services for the county have sustained delayed or denied payments. The latest bill dispute involves $142,000 the county owes. A writ of mandamus is seldom seen in the courts because it requires an unusual set of facts to be of value.
It is defined as an “order by a court to a lesser government official to perform an act required by law, which he has refused or neglected to do.”.
