CDC recommends 2nd COVID shot for over 65 adults

Older Adults Now Able to Receive Additional Dose of Updated COVID-19 Vaccine

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Media Statement

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, February 28, 2024
Contact: Media Relations
(404) 639-3286

Today, CDC Director Mandy Cohen endorsed the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ (ACIP) recommendation for adults ages 65 years and older to receive an additional updated 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine dose. The recommendation acknowledges the increased risk of severe disease from COVID-19 in older adults, along with the currently available data on vaccine effectiveness.

Previous CDC recommendations ensured that people who are immunocompromised are already eligible for additional doses of the  COVID-19 vaccine.

Data continues to show the importance of vaccination to protect those most at risk for severe outcomes of COVID-19. An additional dose of the updated COVID-19 vaccine may restore protection that has waned since a fall vaccine dose, providing increased protection to adults ages 65 years and older.

Adults 65 years and older are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, with more than half of COVID-19 hospitalizations during October 2023 to December 2023 occurring in this age group.

CDC and ACIP will continue to monitor COVID-19 vaccine safety and effectiveness. CDC continues to recommend that everyone stay up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines, especially people with weakened immune systems.

The following is attributable to Dr. Mandy Cohen:

“Today’s recommendation allows older adults to receive an additional dose of this season’s COVID-19 vaccine to provide added protection,” said Mandy Cohen, M.D., M.P.H. “Most COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations last year were among people 65 years and older. An additional vaccine dose can provide added protection that may have decreased over time for those at highest risk.”

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Whether diseases start at home or abroad, are curable or preventable, chronic or acute, or from human activity or deliberate attack, CDC’s world-leading experts protect lives and livelihoods, national security and the U.S. economy by providing timely, commonsense information, and rapidly identifying and responding to diseases, including outbreaks and illnesses. CDC drives science, public health research, and data innovation in communities across the country by investing in local initiatives to protect everyone’s health.

Above is from:  https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2024/s-0228-covid.html

Layoffs at Belvidere Auto Plant, already?

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Stellantis to layoff up to 120 union members at Belvidere plant

Story by Forrest Nelson • 32m

BELVIDERE, Ill. (WIFR) - Up to 120 union members will be laid off according to the UAW 1268 president.

Matt Franzen, president of The United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 1268, announced Thursday night via a post on the union’s website there will be a layoff of up to 120 members at the Yangfeng/Belvidere Assembly Plant.

UAW Local 1178 will be working with those impacted by the mass layoff. Franzen said in his post those who were not contacted from the original volunteer list will not be contacted to return to work.

What does Snoopy have to say?

Will Winnebago County provide sewer to Belvidere battery plant?

LOCAL

A $32M sewer expansion needed for Belvidere battery plant

Jeff Kolkey

Rockford Register Star

Stellantis' estimated $4.8 billion plan to build a new vehicle at the Belvidere Assembly Plant, construct a battery production facility and establish a parts distribution "mega hub" could require what officials say is a tremendous amount of additional water, power and sewer capacity.

Precisely how much additional capacity it will need won't be known until more is known about the plan and design.

But officials say utilities would have to be extended to an area along Irene Road west of the Belvidere Assembly Plant where Stellantis has told the United Auto Workers it intends to build a $3.2 billion "joint venture" battery production facility.

Four Rivers Sanitation Authority Executive Director Tim Hanson said his office is preparing an estimated $32 million plan talked about for three decades to extend sanitary sewer lines to the area from Cherry Valley to service the Stellantis facility and any suppliers that will be needed.

"What you've got to realize is this plan has been in place for the last 30 years and it just has never materialized for that area," Hanson said. "But Irene Road when they did the intersection into that, that was to help spur that area because it's a great location for business. Now you got to put the utilities in there."

A Winnebago County-based agency that cleans 1.5 billion gallons of sewage a year, Four Rivers has the capacity needed for the project, Hanson said. It would require an agreement in which Boone County owns the pipeline and Four Rivers Sanitation manages it, Hanson said.

How the sanitary sewer pipeline — which would have a main trunk more than 3 miles long and a diameter of up to 42-inches — and an estimated $5 million lift station in Cherry Valley would be paid for remains a question.

Although Stellantis committed to the projects in its labor agreement with the UAW, a spokeswoman for the Detroit Three maker of Chrysler, Dodge, Ram and Jeep, declined to comment on its utility needs saying the investments have not been formally announced.

Expansion of electrical capacity including the possible addition of a new substation are also thought to be needed to accommodate the new battery production facility.

ComEd spokeswoman Lauren Huffman in an email said the power company is working with Stellantis and the state to be ready for the new facility to "ensure power infrastructure is in place to serve their long-term power requirements and plans for growth."

"ComEd will continue to play an integral role in meeting the needs of companies like Stellantis who depend upon our strong power reliability and access to clean energy sources, both of which continue to make the region a compelling choice for business expansion,” Huffman said.

Gov. JB Pritzker's office did not immediately respond to an email asking for more information about utility needs for the site and what kind of public financial assistance Stellantis is seeking to cover those costs.

Belvidere Mayor Clint Morris did not return phone messages seeking comment.

Jeff Kolkey writes about government, economic development and other issues for the Rockford Register Star. He can be reached at  (815) 987-1374, via email at jkolkey@rrstar.com and on Twitter @jeffkolkey.

Above is from:  https://www.rrstar.com/story/news/local/2024/01/18/a-32m-plan-could-bring-sanitary-sewer-to-new-belvidere-battery-plant/72165213007/

Closing Rockford Store and Restaurant

Stone Eagle Tavern in Rockford to close after 15 years in business

ROCKFORD — Stone Eagle Tavern, a locally owned restaurant that has proudly separated itself from the chains that line East State Street, will close next month after 15 years in business. Owner Jimmy Vitale said the restaurant’s 15-year lease expired on Dec. 31, and he learned Thursday that the owner of the building at 6445 E. State St. plans to sell the property and not extend Stone Eagle’s lease. The restaurant will close on or about Saturday, Feb. 3, giving guests a chance to redeem gift cards, visit with staff, [

Furry Babies closes CherryVale Mall location

CHERRY VALLEY — Furry Babies, a pet store that displayed puppies for sale in cribs on its retail floor and faced controversy over its breeders, has closed its CherryVale Mall location. The interior of the store was empty on Saturday and its gates were closed. It’s unclear if the store will reopen. Its Google listing says it is permanently closed, and its Facebook page now directs to a message saying the content is not available. Calls and messages left with Furry Babies Inc. ownership over the weekend were not returned. […]

Above is from:  https://www.rockrivercurrent.com/category/news/local-news/

Donald Trump Refuses to Sign Illinois’ Pledge Against Overthrowing Government

• Newsweek

Donald Trump Refuses to Sign Pledge Against Overthrowing Government

Story by Rachel Dobkin • 4h

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally on January 05, 2024, in Mason City, Iowa.© Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump has refused to sign an optional oath that he will not "advocate the overthrow of the government" ahead of the 2024 election, according to an analysis from radio station WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times on Saturday.

Trump is the current frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, and since his 2016 successful run, the former president has maintained a loyal base known as MAGA from his campaign slogan, Make America Great Again.

During Trump's bid for president in 2016 and again in 2020, the MAGA leader signed a loyalty oath document and submitted it to Illinois election authorities. However, this time around, Trump did not sign the document. The oath, which political candidates in Illinois have been signing for over 50 years comes from a Cold-Era law that was made non-mandatory in the 1970s.

The oath, which is a pledge of allegiance to the U.S. government and state of Illinois, is not required, but it is a tradition when presidential candidates turn in their nominating petitions to the Illinois State Board of Elections for the state's primary held on March 19.

In part of the oath, candidates declare that they are not communists nor affiliated with communist organizations and in another part, which is more applicable to today, candidates swear that they "do not directly or indirectly teach or advocate the overthrow of the government of the United States or of this state or any unlawful change in the form of the governments thereof by force or any unlawful means."

Related video: Judge Shuts Down Attempt to Kick Donald Trump Off Ballot (Newsweek)

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  FOX NewsAttempts to take Trump off the ballot are not democratic: John Yoo

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President Joe Biden and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican 2024 presidential candidate, signed the oath, according to WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times. Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidates Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Chris Christie, former New Jersey governor, did not sign the oath.

Newsweek reached out to Trump's campaign via email for additional information.

Reacting to the news that Trump did not sign the oath, Biden posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday, "I said Donald Trump is willing to sacrifice our democracy to put himself in power. I wasn't exaggerating."for incitement of insurrection a week later, Kinzinger was one of only 10 Republicans to vote for impeachment. However, the former president was later acquitted by the Senate.

Trump is currently facing federal charges for his actions surrounding the riot. In August 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) indicted the former president on four federal felony counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has claimed that the case is politically motivated.

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“New Problem” for Illinois pension programs

Fixing ‘Tier II’ issue can be both costly and an opportunity

Ralph Martire

Posted December 18, 2023 5:06 pm

By Ralph Martire

The General Fund budget Gov. Pritzker inherited from his immediate predecessor Bruce Rauner could charitably be described as a “hot mess.” It was running an operating deficit of 30%, which in turn had created a ginormous $8 billion backlog of unpaid bills. To be clear, that isn’t fiscally sustainable.

It also isn’t desirable, because lack of fiscal capacity on the front-end means the inability to fund services to adequate levels on the back-end. That’s no bueno, given that over 94% of all General Fund service expenditures cover the core areas of education, health care, social services and public safety — which are not only demanded by voters and taxpayers, but also provide direct and indirect benefits to everyone.

And while Rauner’s financial mismanagement made things decidedly worse, the truth is Illinois’ fiscal problems are structural, have vexed lawmakers for generations and are so bad they’ve forced real cuts to be made in those four core service areas for decades. Indeed, when Pritzker first took office in 2019, Illinois was spending some $8 billion, or 24.4% less (after adjusting for inflation), on education, healthcare, social services and public safety than it had back in FY 2000 under Republican Governor George Ryan.

To his credit, Pritzker largely put Illinois’ fiscal house in order. He reduced the General Fund operating deficit from 30% to below 2%, generated interest cost savings by prepaying loans and pension contributions, got the Unemployment Insurance Fund healthy and built-up Illinois’ rainy day fund from zero dollars — Rauner had totally depleted it — to north of $2 billion. This created the fiscal capacity to start making some enhanced investments in core services that had previously been cut — although total spending today is still below FY 2000 levels in real terms.

Unfortunately, recent projections show the General Fund deficit will begin to worsen next fiscal year and continue to deteriorate thereafter. And no, overspending is not now, and as the afore-cited data prove never has been, the driver of General Fund deficits. The real culprit has always been a poorly designed state tax system that fails to comport with the principles of sound taxation, doesn’t track the modern economy and hence fails to generate enough revenue growth to cover the cost of maintaining the same level of public services from one year into the next.

To top things off, Illinois is on the verge of incurring a significant new financial obligation. See, historically Illinois was exempt from enrolling the vast majority of state workers — or any public school teachers — in Social Security. Which means Illinois didn’t have to pony-up the 6.2% of payroll needed to contribute into the system. But that exemption only pertains for so long as benefits provided under Illinois’ pension systems are at least equivalent to benefits provided under Social Security.

In 2010, Illinois created a new, Tier II pension plan that not only provides a significantly lesser benefit than under the prior Tier I plan, it also requires that Tier II members pay the same portion of their wages for these lesser benefits as Tier I members pay for greater benefits. Besides being patently unfair, Tier II runs afoul of the rules that allow Illinois to avoid enrolling folks in Social Security.

Since Illinois can’t afford to enroll all exempt state employees — and all public school teachers — in Social Security, it’ll have to increase Tier II benefits. Paying for that will be a challenge, because current tax policy doesn’t generate enough revenue to continue funding what the state does today, much less handle new costs.

This conundrum actually creates an opportunity. After living for generations with flawed tax policies that force Illinois to underfund core services, lawmakers can use the need to solve the pending Tier II fiscal crisis as an impetus for reforming state tax policy to work in the modern economy, finally allowing Illinois to make adequate and sustainable investments in the core services that build better communities.

Ralph Martire is Executive Director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, a fiscal policy think tank, and the Arthur Rubloff Professor of Public Policy at Roosevelt University. rmartire@ctbaonline.org

Above is from:  https://www.dailyherald.com/20231216/columns/fixing-tier-ii-issue-can-be-both-costly-and-an-opportunity/