State Races, Redistricting, and Other Updates

 

It appears that all the legislation dealing with redistricting has finally passed now that the Illinois Judicial District legislation has passed the General Assembly (just awaiting a likely Governor's signature). The Champaign County and C-U Local Cheat Sheets focus almost entirely on local government and local candidates, but the State redistricting runs right through our local communities. 

For a lot of information on the legal process, dates, before and after maps, etc Ballotpedia's redistricting page on U.S. Congressional and State of Illinois General Assembly districts has a lot of helpful information.

The most detailed maps with zoom functions and comparing before and after are on the Ballotpedia website here. There are also some additional maps at the Illinois Democratic Party's page here. Direct links to maps:

• U.S. Congressional District Map
• State of Illinois General Assembly, Senate and House Maps
• Illinois Supreme Court district map (it appears Champaign County is still in the 5th District compared to the current map here).

 

The General Assembly's passage of the new State judicial circuit and sub-circuit maps just happened this week. The changes appear to give some Illinois Counties with likely Democratic Party majorities, like Champaign County a bit more party representation opportunities on the court compared to circuit-wide elections that include far more surrounding rural populations and lean more Republican overall. The Springfield State Journal-Register had Capitol News Illinois coverage of the bill and its passage:

Democrats in the Illinois Senate and House pushed through legislation Wednesday night that would create new judicial “subcircuits” in Sangamon, Madison and DuPage counties.

Before sending House Bill 3138 to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk with no Republican votes, Democrats who control the General Assembly defended the new proposed subcircuits and other changes in residential qualifications for elected circuit judges in the Chicago area the counties of Peoria, Champaign and Rock Island. They said the plan would give Black and Hispanic judicial candidates more of a chance to get elected...

Republicans said the move is a brazen attempt to fill the bench with Democratic judges who would support Democratic initiatives and philosophies in court rulings.

Full article with more details here. The News-Gazette's Jim Dey had an article critical of the changes here, but it included some helpful descriptions of how some of the court seats would end up elected within Champaign County as opposed to across the full Sixth Circuit region:

Champaign County is among many affected counties. The evolving proposal calls for all three local circuit judges currently elected from the six-county Sixth Circuit to run only in Champaign County in future elections.

This change was proposed several months ago by state Rep. Carol Ammons, D-Urbana, who complained that judges are overwhelmingly White and male.

The transition takes effect on the retirements of circuit judges Jason Bohm, Randy Rosenbaum and Roger Webber.

Champaign County has six circuit judges — three at-large and three resident. The resident judges are Ramona Sullivan, Ben Dyer and Sam Limentato.

That full opinion piece here. More information on the structure of the Sixth Circuit here, list of judges here, map here, and an explanation of circuit versus associate judges here. The Cheat Sheet's judges page is dire need of an update and on the to-do list.

For previous coverage of the redistricting of the County Board districts, see this previous Cheat Sheet post or the News-Gazette coverage here.

Race and Candidates:

There were a couple recent news items highlighting potential candidates for these new districts. The Cheat Sheet won't have a lot of further information and updates about them, but the Champaign County Voter Alliance has had some great non-partisan candidate guides in recent years. The League of Women Voters of Champaign County has candidate events to keep an eye out for as well!

The News-Gazette had updates on incumbent representatives at the State level of government running again. The list includes Representatives Carol Ammons (D - 103rd), Mike Marron (R - 104th) and Tom Bennett (R - 106th). It also includes Senators Chapin Rose (R-51st) and Scott Bennett (D - 52nd).

It could be the first part of 2022 before they know the territory they’d represent — pending a ruling by a federal panel of judges on redrawn maps — but five local state legislators say they all plan to run for re-election 11 months from now.

Full article here.

Now that the U.S. Congressional races this year finally have districts after a convoluted process by the State of Illinois government to deal with late census data and lawsuits. it's becoming more clear who may run for which seat. Some early updates on potential candidates are available for the IL-13 Congressional District candidates so far: Democrats David Palmer and Nikki Budzinski. The News-Gazette's Tom Kacich had some early fundraising information for the IL-13 candidates here. The very recently announced candidates for the IL-15 here (Republicans so far) started off with some fireworks almost right out of the gate.

Champaign County Clerk & Recorder

Swearing in from the Clerk and Recorder facebook page.

The office of Champaign County Recorder has officially merged with the County Clerk's office into the new office of the Champaign County Clerk & Recorder. The News-Gazette had a preview of how the merger was expected to play out last month:

Under changes approved by voters in April, Ingram’s job will be eliminated, the recorder’s office staff and functions will be rolled into the clerk’s office and County Clerk Aaron Ammons will become clerk and recorder on Jan. 1, 2022...

Ingram said the five staff members in the recorder’s office will remain in the same space at the Brookens Administrative Center in Urbana.

The chief deputy in the recorder’s office, Toni Ceaser, will supervise the recorder’s office and report to the chief deputy in the clerk’s office, Angela Patton.

That full article here. WCIA had coverage of the actual transition, reporting a software hiccup that may have been unrelated to the merger itself:

There was a minor slowdown early in the day. Long-time staff members said it was due to a software hiccup that was out of their control and resolved within a couple of hours...

The biggest thing to get used to is a new website. Ammons showed us the new, merged county clerk and recorder site. Now, filing and searching deed records are on the same page as other clerk services.

“People who are used to going to the current recorder of deeds website, they’ll get a little re-direct opportunity to click on,” Ammons said.

The old website will be available for another few weeks to ease the transition, he added.

More information and details about the overall transition and how the office operated through the handover from WCIA here (includes video segment).

The last Champaign County Recorder of Deeds, Mike Ingram, ran on a campaign of eliminating the office he was to be elected to. In his farewell message he included his background as a local musician and played some songs from the County's records vault (video available on his facebook page here).

County Board and Jail Updates

Champaign County Board and most of the committee meetings in January appear to be virtual as opposed to in-person again. For example, tomorrow's Facilities Committee meeting agenda has this message at the top:

Pursuant to the Governor’s Executive Order establishing a pandemic disaster in the State of Illinois that covers the County of Champaign, and the County Executive’s determination that holding this meeting in person is not prudent at this time due to health concerns with rising numbers of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations being reported in the county, this meeting will be held remotely via zoom. Public comment also will be taken remotely. The public may watch the meeting live or via recording on the County’s YouTube Channel.

In the public participation section of the agenda it notes that he public comments will be through the Zoom app and links to instructions and meeting information. Previous meeting videos are available here with meeting agendas and documents available here.

The County Board member information and district links on the Cheat Sheet should be up to date now. With all of the vacancies, appointments, and legal battles I had gotten behind on the current board. For example, Bethany Vanichtheeranont was appointed September 23, 2001 to the vacancy created by Jordan Humphrey in District 5 when he resigned due to a move outside of the County.

In a more prolonged legal fight, Wayne Williams was appointed on December 8th, 2021 to fulfill the term of Titianna Ammons unexpired term in District 11 after she resigned due to health reasons earlier this year. News-Gazette coverage here of the related legal battle on the appointment between the majority of the County Board and the County Executive.

That legal battle resulted in some odd agenda items, special meetings, and a couple other attempted appointments by the County Executive to the vacancy in District 11 that were either dropped (e.g. Angela R. Clark Terrall) or voted against (e.g. Lola Jones).

Other County government updates are in a separate Cheat Sheet post here that include updates on housing assistance, the Forest Preserve District, animal control, and a number of Sheriff's Office and corrections news links.

Jail Consolidation Vote Followups:

Last month's County Cheat Sheet updates linked to local news coverage on the Jail consolidation vote that passed in the November County Board regular meeting. Following up on that vote, CU-CitizenAccess had an article with some of the more recent updates on the Jail Committee and discussions on renovations, health care improvements, and more.

Preceding the jail consolidation vote there was a great deal of public participation from local activists and citizens (jump to public participation in meeting video here). The arguments and data presented in the five minutes allotted for each participant to comment generally get reduced to for or against in the meeting minutes. From the posted minutes of the 11/16 meeting:

Sherry Steigmann of Urbana asked the Board about the cost to borrow the funds to pay for the County Jail renovation and expansion.

Rob Dalhaus of C-U at Home spoke about homeless shelters in the county and requested American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) funding for emergency shelters.

Mark Enslin of Urbana spoke in opposition to jail funding.

Matt Soyland of the Party of Socialism and Liberation spoke in opposition to jail funding and urged the funding of social services instead.

Captain Karee Voges, Champaign County Correctional Superintendent, spoke about a recent evaluation of the jail facilities by the state, noting the downtown jail is wholly inadequate; she urged the board to pass jail funding.

Micah McMahon, Correctional Officer, spoke in support of jail funding.

Brian Dunn of Champaign spoke in opposition to jail funding and urged funding social services instead.

Drake Materre, University of Illinois Master of Public Health candidate, spoke in opposition to jail funding and urged funding social services instead.

Allan Axelrod of Urbana spoke in support of funding social services.

Brian Dolinar of Urbana spoke in opposition to jail funding.

David Cisneros of Urbana spoke in opposition to jail funding and urged funding social services instead.

Chelsea Birchmier of the Champaign County Bailout Coalition spoke in opposition to jail funding and noted that since the passage of the cash bail reform in the state legislature, to take effect January 2023, there has been a steady increase in bail amounts.

Hiba Ahmed of the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice read a statement in opposition to jail funding and urged funding social services instead.

Luke Lee of Champaign spoke in opposition to jail funding.

Full meeting minutes available here. The minutes also summarized some of the technical details and amendments discussed prior to the final voice vote.

Other County Government Updates

This post includes updates on housing assistance, the Forest Preserve District, animal control, and a number of Sheriff's Office and corrections news links.

The Champaign County Regional Planning Commission is offering assistance to many local residents who may need help with their water or sewer bills. From the News-Gazette:

Income-eligible households in Champaign County with past-due water or sewer bills or disconnections can apply for help from a temporary assistance program.

The Champaign County Regional Planning Commission will be accepting applications for the Water/Wastewater Assistance Program on a first-come, first-served basis through May 31, 2022, or until the funding is gone.

The program, intended to help homeowners and renters avoid shut-offs, will provide a one-time payment that will go directly to the applicants’ water or sewer companies.

Full blurb here. More information at the RPC website here. WCIA had more details and qualifying information. There are more updates on rental and mortgage assistance and homeless services in another C-U Local Cheat Sheet post this month here.

The News-Gazette had updates on the progress of Champaign County Forest Preserve District projects benefiting from the recently approved tax revenue boost here. Smile Politely also had an article on Lorrie Pearson, the Executive Director of the Forest Preserve District, last month here.

County animal officials were in the news this past month advocating for reforms in the law to prevent and more effectively deal with cases of animal abuse. From the News-Gazette:

A new Illinois law that prevents anyone who has committed two or more animal cruelty felonies from living in the same household or having custody of an animal is a good start but doesn’t go far enough.

That’s the opinion of several Champaign County officials who deal with such cases.

County veterinarian Dr. Susan Norris, the new director of county animal control, Heather Soder, and Assistant State’s Attorney Troy Lozar said the law, which goes into effect in 2022, is too weak.

More at the full article here.

The Champaign County Juvenile Detention Center is looking for job applications to be detention officers. Described as a way to work with youth and have an impact on the local gun violence problem, the position may be far from what one may expect. From the News-Gazette:

“You have to have a lot of energy. You have to be open-minded. You can’t have prejudged notions,” he said. “You have to be fair, consistent, have great communication and listening skills, great decision-making skills. You’ve got to have common sense. You have to have a bachelor’s degree.”

If that job description fits you or someone you know, [superintendent Keith Willis] and his boss, Mike Williams, director of court services for Champaign County, beg you or that person to apply...

“I’m looking for all walks of life, whether you are interested in criminal justice or … recreation management,” he said. “Our job encompasses a corrections, sociology, psychology, mental health, education mindset. We do all those things.”

More at that full article here. Link to the application here. You can also contact superintendent Keith Willis at kwillis@co.champaign.il.us or (217) 384-3780. Their office website with additional information is here.

Other County government news and updates:

• CU-CitizenAccess had an article delving into the history and recent arrest of a Champaign County Sheriff's Deputy.
• A Tom's Mailbag column included some current and comparison data on how many folks in the Champaign County jail system end up transferred to the Illinois Department of Corrections prison system.
• WCIA had an overview of the Champaign County Sheriff's holiday DUI enforcement work. There was an earlier blurb on WCIA about seat belt enforcement results over Thanksgiving.
• In local gun violence related news, there were also discussions for raising rewards for tips through the Champaign County Crime Stoppers program to build off of the ongoing "gun bounty" work. The Champaign Coroner weighed in with another area coroner on dealing with so many young victims of gun violence and their families in the aftermath.

COVID and Health Updates

There has been a great deal of news this past month due to the latest COVID-19 wave and the changing behavior of the Omicron variant. This post starts with some general information and updates, school related updates, and other news and links. 

Illinois Newsroom had a listing of vaccination and testing sites in central Illinois, including Champaign County, in a recent article here. Smile Politely had a listing for C-U testing sites as well here. As always you can get more local information at the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District website here and regular updates at their facebook page here.

There were press releases asking asymptomatic people not to go to local hospitals for testing, but to use other testing services in the area. From WCIA:

Champaign-Urbana Public Health District recently posted to Facebook, asking people not to use Carle, OSF, Christie or Promise Healthcare for COVID asymptomatic testing.

Health officials said at this moment, people who should go to these healthcare locations for COVID testing are only the ones with symptoms, have a high-risk exposure or are directed there by a healthcare provider.

According to officials, others should use the Market Place Mall testing site, SHIELD-CU sites (the Stephens Family YMCA, CRCE on the U of I campus, or Parkland College in Building E), The Free Rapid Test site at southeast corner of Springfield & Duncan or Campustown Urgent Care at Wright and Green.

Full article with video segment here.

Schools:

The Omicron variant of the COVID pandemic hit Illinois last month. and has put a strain on hospitalizations locally. In the week before Christmas the C-UPHD was warning of a "tsunami" of new infections and that the local hospitals were being overwhelmed. The News-Gazette editors promoted vaccinations and masking to help mitigate the surge in a recent editorial as well.

Around that same time the University announced a week long delay for in-person classes this year. Earlier in December, the UIUC Chancellor Robert Jones' "State of the University" speech highlighted the school's pandemic strategy heading into the new year. From Illinois Newsroom:

Last year, everyone on campus was required to test for the virus twice a week. Now, with vaccines available, Jones said they’re testing students, faculty and staff on a targeted basis.

“If there’s more than a couple of cases in a day or two or three cases in a week, we do what we call targeted surveillance testing where everybody in that facility does have to test every other day. And that, according to our public health officials, combined with our very high level of vaccination, is the best mitigation step to take at the moment,” Jones said.

Around 94 percent of the University of Illinois students and staff are fully vaccinated. That’s compared to 74 percent of people 18 and over statewide.

Full article here. Text of the address here, video link here (jump to link on COVID section of the address here). The News-Gazette also had an overview of the University's mitigation strategy last month here.

The University also announced COVID testing requirements for upcoming athletic events. WCIA had an overview here.

The local school districts announced their COVID testing policies and requirements heading into the new year. WCIA had an overview for Unit 4 and District 116 (Champaign and Urbana) here.

Other COVID and health news updates:

• Prior to the New Year's Eve celebrations, mayors of both Champaign and Urbana warned residents to avoid large gatherings to help prevent overwhelming the hospital system any further.
• Secretary of State drivers services have been impacted. Details from WCIA here.
• The surge in cases has also affected court appearances in Champaign County.
• The governor "and hospital leaders are asking hospitals to postpone non-emergency surgeries" according to WICS.
• WICS had coverage of Illinois implementing new CDC quarantine guidelines.
• WCCU highlighted warnings that there may be more cancelations and staffing issues to come.
• Community Foundation of East Central Illinois provided grant money to several area non-profits. More information and links at Smile Politely.