State gov’t + politics reporter for
@CapitolNewsIL
. 🍋Voted class clown in high school, though I’d like to think I’ve reformed. hmeisel
@capitolnewsillinois
.com
I'm maybe the worst ~political reporter~ ever because I HATE covering elections.
There's also a near-constant din of worry in my head re: the toxic state of American politics/the (small) role I play in that.
How can we do better? Some thoughts I wrote for
@inbatweets
' newsletter:
U.S. Rep.
@LaurenUnderwood
(IL-14) officially won her re-election bid against
@JimOberweis
yesterday by a margin of ~4,600 votes now that they’re all counted.
That didn’t stop Oberweis, who prematurely declared victory last week, from heading to D.C. for new member orientation.
Should be MUCH bigger news: A white suburban man drove to Englewood, which is predominantly Black, shot at a park early Thurs a.m., was arrested w 5 guns (including an AR-15), 1,000+ rounds &handwritten notes that "contained incoherent rants & references to mass shooting events.”
Inside his car were at least 300 spent shell casings, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and perhaps the most disturbing, handwritten notes about mass shootings.
Mary Miller, who was just sworn in to rep Southern IL in Congress:
“If we win a few elections, we’re still going to be losing unless we win the hearts and minds of our children. This is the battle. Hitler was right on one thing. He said, ‘Whoever has the youth has the future.’”
The literal president of the Chicago Police Board — the independent civilian body that decides Chicago Police disciplinary cases — alleges Chicago Police officers struck him with a baton five times at a protest Sunday.
BREAKING: Hours after he praised police for their restraint, an officer struck Police Board President Ghian Foreman 5 times with a baton at a protest
@wttw
Yeah, yeah the Thompson Center food court is a scourge to society or whatever, but look at this extremely aesthetic display of Jarritos at the empanada place 😍
“Pretrial Fairness Act,” which ends cash bail among other things, passes the House on a vote of 60 to 50
Win for the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, though it seemed dicey there for a minute as 59 votes held. Members and staff embrace after passage.
Breaking:
@ILAttyGeneral
Kwame Raoul releases multi-year investigation into Catholic Church sex abuse coverup, finding 451 "clerics and religious brothers" who abused nearly 2,000 children across Illinois since 1950. Prior to this investigation, there were only 103 known abusers.
Today’s my first day on contract with
@nprillinois
! Grateful for the opportunity + loyal sources who kept calling and texting all summer even when I wasn’t full-time anywhere. I’ll still be freelancing a bit, too.
(~Vintage~ mug circa my 2014
@UISPAR
internship with the station)
Today's my first day as a full-time employee with
@nprillinois
. I have a new title (and health insurance!)
We're also hiring a second statehouse reporter - come with me!
Today’s my first day on contract with
@nprillinois
! Grateful for the opportunity + loyal sources who kept calling and texting all summer even when I wasn’t full-time anywhere. I’ll still be freelancing a bit, too.
(~Vintage~ mug circa my 2014
@UISPAR
internship with the station)
University of Chicago lead epidemiologist Dr. Emily Landon explains why a stay at home order is necessary, comparing St Louis and Philadelphia’s response to the 1918 pandemic. STL sheltered in place. Philly held a parade. STL fared much better.
I feel like I’m just adding the the cacophony of anecdotes, but here’s a video of the line at the polling place at the police station at 850 W. Addison in the 44th ward. At least they’re waiting outside.
JB Pritzker on the White Dudes for Harris call: Afterward, of course, there's another Zoom that I invite you all to called "Couches Against Trump," better known as CATs
Today’s edition of State Week includes ~*~some personal news~*~
It’s my last day at
@nprillinois
. I’m so grateful for the last two+ years here, especially for
@wuisnewsdir
’s leadership and friendship.
As for what’s next…it’s up in the air! For now, I’m taking some time off ♥️
Hey so I came back from my morning de-stress walk but then I had a pretty bad breakdown. I almost never cry (except for the last few days, apparently) so this is weird. This shit is scary and it’s okay to be sad for people you’ve never met and will never meet. Take care, okay?
Marion County Record publisher Eric Meyer was one of my journalism professors at U of I. Police apparently raised his home in addition to the newspaper’s offices, where “the city’s entire five-officer police force and two sheriff’s deputies took everything…” Wild abuse of power!
An entire small-town police department in Kansas raided a newspaper's offices and its reporters' homes because the paper got a tip about a well-connected person's DUI
There are now more Illinoisans hospitalized with COVID-19 than there ever were during the pandemic's first wave this spring.
145 more COVID-positive Illinoisans are also reported dead - the most since May.
Full numbers later but this is staggering and *extremely* worrisome.
Recovery from session is no joke. Exhaustion is VERY real.
Personal low: Awake for 41 hours straight (which shatters even my high school all-nighter record🥴)
Personal high: Working alongside
@AmandaVinicky
, who years ago picked me as her intern + also brought matching masks ♥️
11 minutes after the scheduled start of this “parental rights” rally out in front of the Capitol in Springfield and the “caravan” hasn’t delivered all that many attendees. Looks like
@DarrenBaileyIL
and co will be speaking to a crowd of ~24.
It’s 2020, so naturally ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted and sent to prison on corruption charges, would purport himself to be the new face of anti-corruption in Illinois. Why not?
On
@wttw
just now,
@SenatorDurbin
says Democratic candidates “paid a heavy price” for House Speaker Mike Madigan remaining chairman of
@demsforillinois
. Durbin said it was “disconcerting by to see the price they paid on that. I hope he takes that to heart.”
Truly honored to be recognized for my efforts on Twitter(dot)com.
Seriously, thanks for all the kind nominations (was reading them yesterday like😭). I just want to be the best reporter I can be, and Twitter has played a big role helping me get better at my job, so I'm thankful.
Incredibly difficult to read about Patricia, the first person to die of COVID-19 in IL.
Her family doesn’t know how she contracted it.
“She doesn’t have high mobility, so however she got it, it was brought to her,” her brother said.
She mainly went to church and funerals.
Patricia Frieson, a retired nurse, went to the hospital last week with difficulty breathing. After testing positive for COVID-19, she died Monday and became the state's first fatality linked to the pandemic.
Her family doesn't know how she contracted it.
I picked a hell of a day to go on vacation and announce ~*~some personal news~*~ but...
Earlier this week was my last day with
@thedailylineIL
/
@thedailylinechi
. I'm so proud of the last two years there and am excited to see where TDL goes next! I wish them nothing but the best.
I'm really excited about joining the smart and hard-working
@NowickiPress
,
@PeterQHancock
and
@BethCapNews
(+PAR intern
@NikaSchoonover
!) at CNI.
Grateful for this and every opportunity I've had in the last 9+ years. I feel so lucky to do this work in my home state. Let's go!
Recently found out that someone I’ve known most of my life apparently doesn’t like that I track COVID in Illinois.
I keep turning that over and over in my mind. Truly fascinating.
How is a public radio station supposed to grow in 2024 — how will it reach new audiences?! — without a podcast unit??? This is an insane and short-sighted move.
.
@WBEZ
leadership just announced the elimination of our podcast unit, the end of the Vocalo radio broadcast and the layoffs of 14 people. It's only been two years since we were big enough and financially healthy enough to acquire the Sun-Times.
Begging fellow reporters to not fixate on ~wEiRd ShApEs~ this week.
Squares work in Iowa because it's a much more homogenous state with fewer mid-sized cities.
There are far more nuanced arguments **on both sides** than just district shapes.
And look! Even Iowa isn't all squares!
Whole United Center chants “thank you, Joe” as president Biden takes the stage. The (very behind) program skipped over the planned pre-Biden performance of James Taylor, which I know my parents are sad about.
The company with one of the most sophisticated logistics systems in the world can’t say how many employees are still unaccounted for nearly 24 hours after the tornado hit its warehouse??
It’s unclear how many employees are unaccounted for. Shift change was in process, trucks coming and going, cited as reasons why. No one from
@amazon
is in attendance at news conference.
Wow, I've rarely seen
@IDPH
Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike get emotional, even in the beginning of the pandemic. But today she's had to turn around to compose herself while announcing today's numbers and urging Illinoisans to stay strong while COVID numbers climb.
"Fight the fatigue."
Sports betting has been up and running in Illinois for 11 months, but yesterday was the first Super Bowl Illinoisans could bet on.
And it was a big one: $1.15M in state tax revenue generated just yesterday.
NEWS: The Illinois Supreme Court has ruled against the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, finding that its contract provision requiring the destruction of police disciplinary records after five years violates public records law.
Opinion:
The IL Supreme Court is scheduled to issue an opinion on Thursday that could force Chicago to destroy all police complaint files that are more than 5 years old. Experts say it would damage efforts to reform the department and hold officers accountable.
Went for a drink after tonight’s RNC programming. Walking back from the washroom, saw a certain prominent GOP senator holding court at a table in the backroom, saying something to the effect of "the rule is: Hitler always bad. You don't say 'at least the trains ran on time.'"
Mary Miller, who was just sworn in to rep Southern IL in Congress:
“If we win a few elections, we’re still going to be losing unless we win the hearts and minds of our children. This is the battle. Hitler was right on one thing. He said, ‘Whoever has the youth has the future.’”
A very much-needed moment of levity: since his offices + home were raided by the feds in September, people have mentioned to me this video from the spring of me and now-indicted former Sen. Marty Sandoval in the Capitol BlueRoom. A pal finally sent me a recording today. LOLOLOL.
One year ago today, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Dr. Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health dressed up as Rona destroyers:
.
@DarrenBaileyIL
said it in his press conference this a.m. and I thought it was just him misspeaking. But it’s in his press release about the press conference just now and in the prepared remarks () so I’ve gotta point out: there’s no such “Edgefield Park.”
Former Illinois Gov Bruce Rauner wrote a $250,000 check to Florida Gov Ron DeSantis after the gated Florida Keys complex where Rauner now lives got vaccines before the rest of Florida.
Miami Herald —>
In Illinois we have a Board of Elections and the Secretary of State has no oversight over elections. Presumably as someone who’s already held statewide office, Alexi Giannoulias knows this.
Illinois is not nearly as blue a state as people think. It’s absolutely critical we keep the Secretary of State’s office blue to protect our elections. That is why I’m running to keep IL blue. Can you RT this & follow this account to help keep Illinois securely Democratic? 🙏 🚀
I think I avoided the worst of the side effects from my second Pfizer dose yesterday by drinking a ton of water. Still got dizzy, fuzzy brained and needed to go to bed at 9 and sleep for a lot of hours, but definitely hydrate if your second shot is coming up.
.
@GovPritzker
offers “an apology to the woman who called my office this week angry that I've been interrupting the Bold and the Beautiful. I want her to know that I to look forward to the days when we can get back to our regularly scheduled programming.”
#COVID19
#SundayUpdate
When I was 11 I went on a boat ride on the Mississippi, ordered a virgin mudslide & kept the glass
When I was 21 I bought some shitty premixed frozen drinks, put them in the freezer & forgot about them
When I was 29 I lived through a pandemic, dug both out & had myself a time
Sometimes it’s after midnight but you just have to get out of bed, put on a coat and hat and go out hunting for copies of Thursday’s paper because it’s an oddity you’ll want to have someday.
It took only 8 days to the next million US confirmed covid cases. The 1st million took > 100 d
April 29 1 million
June 11 2 million
July 8 3 million
July 24 4 million
Aug 9 5 million
Aug 31 6 million
Sept 26 7 million
Oct 17 8 million
Oct 31 9 million
Nov 8 10 million
We're excited to represent the Land of Lincoln in London! I'm thrilled to be in London with
@GovPritzker
and
@DonHarmonIL
to discuss how Illinois is leading the Midwest in climate leadership and to promote our state's growing green energy sector.
.
@GovPritzker
describes Dr. Ezike as "superwoman" and praises her for the job she's done, revealing that protesters have showed up to her home and generally threatened her.
After falling asleep in the middle of typing a sentence while fully sitting up, I’m admitting defeat. Second 48-hour period of no sleep in this week alone. Don’t do this.
.
@GovPritzker
starts his daily press conference shouting out this guy, who has tweeted a photo of his daily cocktail while watching gov's presser every day since March 26.
#SpritzersWithPritzker
I often get questions about whether I'm hoping to cover Congress some day.
No. I'm not. If I wanted to do that, I could have done it already. In my opinion, covering state news is just as important (possibly more important?) .... and certainly more interesting.
Also pictured is
@Miller_Congress
, who easily won the primary for IL’s 15th congressional district to replace outgoing
@RepShimkus
. Miller is the wife of IL House member
@RepChrisMiller
.
And yes, that is an ice cream sundae on Oberweis’ tie. (
@oberweisdairy
)
No masks, though.
So this week was...something.
BRB hibernating/self-isolating/processing wtf just happened. Pic from ~3am Wednesday at
@theboscenter
. (Always keep a lawn chair in the car) ✌️
.
@RepKellyCassidy
's "TEXAS Act" takes Texas' six-week abortion ban law and turns it on its head; would allow Illinoisans to seek minimum $10K in damages for those who cause unwanted pregnancies or commit sexual assault/abuse/domestic violence.
@nprillinois
July 17, 2020 - Illinois Speaker of the House implicated in ComEd bribery scheme.
July 20, 2020 - Former New York Speaker of the House sentenced to 6.5 years on corruption charges.
July 21, 2020 - Ohio Speaker of the House raided in connected with $60M bribe.
👀👀👀👀
US Attorney’s office in Ohio says they’ll hold a news conference related to $60 MILLION in bribes paid to a state official, as FBI agents raid House Speaker Larry Householder’s farm -
Curious about where the initial doses of COVID-19 vaccine ended up in Illinois? Well you're in luck - I made an interactive map! (Don't ask how long it took!)
It goes along with this story from
@maryfhansen
and me (but mostly Mary):
.
@GovPritzker
calls for President Trump's immediate removal from office.
"Two weeks is too long for Donald Trump to remain in office, where he can continue to incite more untold violence."
Just got from running errands to four (4!) separate places, where absolutely zero people informed me I was wearing two different shoes (one of which is actually a slipper). Always thought people were making this stuff up. Reader, I was wrong!
This is awful. Chatted with Sen. Bennett for a few minutes last week in the rotunda and we reminisced about how tiny his twins were when he was sworn into office in early 2015...they're now nine. This is devastating. Pray for his family.
Re: people who aren’t taking social distancing seriously,
@GovPritzker
says “All I can say is that those people either are not paying attention to the news, or they're stupid. That's all I can say.”
😬😬😬
Scoop: Democratic National Committee selects Chicago to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention.
@JoeBiden
called
@GovPritzker
this morning. Details...
WINNERS ANNOUNCED! We are so excited to announce our first ever INBA Crystal Mic Award winners. They will be recognized at our fall convention in Rockford, Sat. Sept. 25