chicagotribune--2020-10-23--Illinois launches statewide plan to boost monarch butterfly population: ‘If enough people get on boa

Illinois launches statewide plan to boost monarch butterfly population: ‘If enough people get on board, we can turn this thing around’

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There have been good-faith efforts to increase milkweed and protect monarch habitat @ @ @ @ @ some efforts can be piecemeal or are stronger than others .
“ But with the @ @ @ @ @ do is it will really formalize the protection for the species .
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Monarch butterflies have flown south for the winter, but efforts to protect them in Illinois are sticking around.
As butterflies east of the Rocky Mountains migrated thousands of miles toward Mexico, a group of stakeholders representing farms, cities, roadsides and natural areas signed on to the Illinois Monarch Action Plan, the state’s all-hands-on-deck effort to ensure the survival of that unmistakable orange-winged butterfly.
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The plan is part of an effort to add regionally 1.3 billion stems of milkweed, which monarchs depend upon. Illinois aims to add 150 million stems of the state wildflower for its state insect by 2038.
“We have a plan, we have strategies, we have a goal — our 150 million milkweed stems,” said Iris Caldwell, the project’s coordinator and a program manager at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Energy Resources Center. “And now we really need to roll up our sleeves and really start doing the work of implementing the plan.”
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In the coming months, the group will work to get a better handle on how much milkweed there is, how far there is to go to reach the state goal and develop tracking mechanisms to mark progress, using 2014 as the counting baseline. Based on research so far, the 150 million number seemed “within the realm of possibility,” Caldwell said.
Monarch butterflies rest on giant hyssop plants in Lurie Garden at Millennium Park in Chicago on Aug. 30, 2019. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
In a 2014 petition to list the monarch butterfly under the Endangered Species Act, the number of monarchs was estimated at 35 million, down from 1 billion butterflies east of the Rockies less than 20 years earlier.
A decision on whether listing is warranted is expected in December.
Regardless of the decision, Kraig McPeek, a supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said, “I don’t think it changes how people feel about the monarch butterfly. Whether it’s threatened or endangered or none of those things, people still have an emotional attachment to this black and orange butterfly, and that’s not going to change.”
Pam Karlson has grown milkweed in her Northwest Side garden for years. It has become easier to find common milkweed, said Karlson, a professional gardener. She’s handed some off to friends for their own gardens.
“I’m fascinated with any tiny creature like that that can make this incredible journey every year and survive,” Karlson said. “I grew up when there was an abundance of monarchs, and an abundance of milkweed growing all over the place. Down by the railroad tracks, in all the empty fields.
“And I really, truly believe if enough people get on board, we can turn this thing around and make a difference,” Karlson added. “I’ve seen how it works in my own garden.”
‘The city can actually matter’
Last season’s monarch population appeared to take a dive.
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In recent years, monarchs have occupied a smaller area across their Mexico grounds than in previous decades but have still hovered above a low hit in the 2013-14 season.
“This is better than when they were down at their bottom,” said Doug Stotz, a conservation ecologist at the Field Museum and a member of the monarch plan’s steering committee. “But it’s way below the long-term average. And right now they’re not at a point where you would say they’re safe.”
The monarchs you saw in early summer lived for a few weeks, maybe, and then died. But after a few generations of metamorphoses, one generation of butterflies, built to make it all the way to the mountains of Mexico, will live for months after touching down south in early fall. They’ll head north in the spring to start the cycle again on a milkweed plant.
The ability of the great- or great-great monarch grandchildren to find their way back to the same roosting spots continues to be a wonder. But the natural world’s schedules have to match up. The butterflies need to arrive when milkweed has bloomed. Temperature extremes can affect milkweed and butterfly survival alike.
Weather conditions generally drive the annual variations, Stotz said. Drought is particularly hard on the insects, and even one bad storm can result in mass casualties. A single winter storm in 2002 was reported to have killed upward of 450 million monarchs.
But the long-term driver in the falloff is most likely loss of breeding habitat, Stotz said. Illinois has two dozen species of milkweed; five are threatened or endangered.
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“So that’s what the monarch plan is all about, is trying to increase the breeding habitat in Illinois, as part of a plan to do that across the country,” Stotz said.
That includes the urban sector, which involves park districts and forest preserves — and your backyard.
“Monarchs are an organism where the city actually can matter,” Stotz said. “We can make a huge difference by getting milkweeds and native flowering plants into city gardens, city parks, vacant lots, all sorts of places where we can grow habitat.”
Questions remain about how much people will be willing to plant, and what percentage of people will actually follow through.
“But certainly we see more and more people doing native plantings,” Stotz said. “Another big factor is the presence of any native wildflowers. Because the adults need nectar resources. And it does seem like the fall migration south, those nectar resources are an important piece of the story.”
What causes that monarch fever?
The action plan, composed in recent years and part of ongoing conservation efforts, was recently signed off on by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Illinois Department of Transportation, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and Illinois Department of Agriculture.
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The plan is divided into sectors — rights of way, urban, agriculture and natural lands — and springs into action this month with virtual events.
Some steps have already had substantial impact, Caldwell said, like the state’s Department of Transportation changing mowing practices, allowing milkweed to return to roadsides. Additionally, 850,000 acres of the state’s farmland are included in a federal program that incentivizes habitat creation. Since 2014, nearly 20,000 acres have been added to the state’s protected lands network, with an estimated 1.5 million milkweed stems.
Mark Johnston, who developed a national geodatabase system for rights of way organizations like energy companies and transportation agencies to track pollinator habitat, will be jumping in to help assess how stems might be divided across sectors. Rights of way lands include roadsides and land near railroads, electric lines or pipelines.
“The plan is to do some scenarios where we kind of estimate how much could we fit in agriculture, how much could we fit in urban? What looks realistic?” Johnston said.
Johnston, a conservation ecologist at the Field Museum, previously led a study estimating milkweed in urban areas and the potential for more. Chicago was estimated to have about 15 million stems.
“There were some neighborhoods that were kind of hot spots, where you’d see a lot. And other neighborhoods where it hasn’t caught on yet,” Johnston said. “So that’s another part of our future research is, we want to see, is there a way to see what causes that monarch fever?”
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‘Gateway bug’
Like efforts to save other threatened or endangered species, the benefits of helping monarchs can extend beyond one insect.
Monarchs are a “gateway bug,” said Stotz, of the Field Museum.
“Because it’s not just about monarchs,” Stotz said. “It’s about all sorts of pollinators.”
And unlike with some other species, helping monarchs isn’t a great mystery. Monarchs need milkweed, and milkweed needs green space and natural areas to flourish. Planting milkweed, or native plants, can help, as well as avoiding insecticides in your garden.
“You can be in an apartment complex or you can own 2 acres or you can own 2,000 acres — that entire spectrum can do something,” said McPeek, of the Fish and Wildlife Service. “You can put a milkweed plant in a pot on your deck.”
Monarchs also elicit emotional responses, McPeek said, whether through memories of tracking their transformation in grade school or learning of their multigeneration migration journey. “So it’s tangible, it’s emotional and I think that’s why people are so behind it.”
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The petition to list the monarch outlines some of what the species is up against: herbicide and pesticide use, development and climate change.
The state’s conservation efforts have ramped up since 2014, said Ann Holtrop, chief for the division of natural heritage with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. “So we’ve been on an upward trend,” Holtrop said.
But stakeholders are waiting to see if the monarch is listed.
“It has the potential to essentially require landowners to do things for monarchs that they’d rather have it be voluntary that they do,” Stotz said.
Ahead of the decision, some rights of way landowners are signing on to voluntary agreements approved by the Fish and Wildlife Service in which they commit to a certain percentage of conservation actions to support monarchs on their lands in exchange for not having to implement other conservation actions. For organizations that sign on, the agreements offer certainty that no more will be asked of them even if a species is formally listed.
Offering the agreements at this earlier point in the listing process is unusual. But monarchs are unique in that they cover a remarkable range of land and cross over into many sectors — from city parks to sprawling farms. So early conservation measures can serve as a blueprint.
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Still, the 2014 petition noted that other species have been protected under the act that cover large ranges, like piping plovers — although the birds are not exactly analogous, living longer and not requiring multiple generations to make migration happen.
The decision also comes after the Trump administration’s changes to the Endangered Species Act, which could have an effect on the monarch.
The Center for Biological Diversity, an advocacy nonprofit organization and petitioner to have the monarch listed under the Endangered Species Act, is hoping to see the monarch federally protected, said Tara Cornelisse, a senior scientist with the organization’s Endangered Species Program. There have been good-faith efforts to increase milkweed and protect monarch habitat, Cornelisse said, but some efforts can be piecemeal or are stronger than others. “But with the listing, what it will do is it will really formalize the protection for the species.”
The center petitioned for the monarch because of the clear declines in populations and widespread habitat loss, she said. “So the story just keeps getting worse, and then of course there’s climate change on top of it all,” Cornelisse said.
For a wide-range species to be listed, you have to ask whether you can make the case that the species is imperiled in a significant portion of its range, she said. “And for the monarch, it’s no question.” Listing will give monarchs “a bigger seat at the table.”
Regardless of the listing decision, some think the monarch’s momentum will remain.
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“I don’t think it will change much in terms of what the Illinois Monarch Project does," Holtrop said. “Our goal has been to get out in front of a listing decision as much as we can. And rally all the troops to put conservation on the ground and minimize risk.”
Because of their familiarity and knack to fascinate, they could be the “poster species” for inspiring conservation efforts, Holtrop said. “So if we can do that now with this species, then hopefully we won’t have to work so hard with so many other species.”


chicagotribune--2020-10-23--In bid for his fifth term, Sen. Dick Durbin faces opponents who stress religious faith and question

In bid for his fifth term, Sen. Dick Durbin faces opponents who stress religious faith and question pandemic response

Curran has at times objected to those who say his Senate candidacy is steeped in his religion .
But in @ @ @ @ @ , interview with PBS ' Frontline , he described his approach : “ In terms @ @ @ @ @ will always prioritize my faith over my political affiliation on every issue , and to @ @ @ @ @ easy choice .
I don ’ t fit neatly into the Republican agenda .
I @ @ @ @ @ the Democratic agenda on many issues .
That ’ s my core on which I @ @ @ @ @ .
”

As he seeks a fifth term, Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin finds his top two opponents mounting challenges that are deeply rooted in their religious faith.
Republican Mark Curran, a former Democrat-turned-Republican ex-Lake County sheriff, points to his Catholic faith in opposing abortion and supporting immigration rights, as well as in his outspoken disapproval of state restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19.
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“The devil is about fear and isolation. Does he own you? How much more of his childhood are we going to steal? Death will eventually come for everyone. Your soul will have an eternal destination,” he wrote on his official campaign Facebook page after learning that his son’s fall high school football season had been postponed.
Dick Durbin, D-Ill., during the Senate Judiciary Committee on Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett on October 15, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Samuel Corum/Getty-AFP)
Running as a third-party candidate is Willie Wilson, who twice ran unsuccessfully for Chicago mayor and made a brief quixotic bid for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination before casting his vote for Republican Donald Trump.
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A wealthy food and medical glove distributor who also distributes his own gospel recordings, Wilson paid the fines for a few churches that violated pandemic gathering orders.
“I stood up to the governor and mayor of the city of Chicago when they were closing doors. And I said, ‘Wait a minute. If you’re closing doors at the church, how can you not close all marijuana houses and liquor stores?’ I paid a price. I offered a million dollars to anybody who gets a ticket from any church. And I paid for a few,” Wilson said at a September church service.
On Oct. 8, Wilson said he had begun a quarantine after announcing that he had tested positive for COVID-19, along with five people who traveled with him five days earlier to a Danville church. Prior to the Danville trip, Wilson visited senior housing sites throughout Chicago to hand out what he said was $250,000 worth of $25 Walmart gift cards.
“We’re passing some of these out in Danville, Illinois. It’s the first time I’ve been down here. I didn’t know Black people lived down here but I’m down here now to look at them and I see it with my own eyes,” Wilson told supporters, wearing a mask but no gloves, as he handed the gift cards to drivers outside the Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in Danville.
Officials from the Vermilion County Public Health Department did not respond when asked if they had been informed of Wilson’s illness or if any contact tracing had taken place among those who had been in contact with him. On Oct. 22, Wilson said he had tested negative.
Also on the Nov. 3 ballot are Green Party candidate David Black and Libertarian Danny Malouf.
Durbin, 75, is Illinois' senior senator the No. 2 ranking Democrat in the Senate, where he has served since 1996 after 14 years in the U.S. House.
Six years ago, he won reelection with his smallest percentage victory in any of his statewide races, 53.5%, against Republican state Sen. Jim Oberweis of Sugar Grove who is now making a bid for the U.S. House. In 2002 and 2008, Durbin topped 60% of the vote after winning his initial bid for Senate with 54.3% of the vote.
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Durbin is still viewed as the favorite in this election, with a large campaign bankroll of $4.5 million as of Oct. 1. He’s also received free exposure over the last four years on national TV outlets in taking on Trump and, more recently, in his role attacking the president’s handling of the pandemic and on the Senate Judiciary Committee in opposing the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.
Durbin has most recently used Trump to try to motivate support in a TV spot that calls the president “a big bully,” and says Durbin has “brought him down to size.” It shows Trump shrinking to fit into the size of the senator’s palm, where he disposes of the president with a wrist flip.
The spots tagline, “Dick Durbin, a senator for times like these,” ties into what Durbin said was one motivation for seeking reelection — the prospect of a Trump defeat to former Vice President Joe Biden, as well as the potential of a Democratic takeover of the Senate.
“Politically it motivated me more than anything because I’ve seen so much damage done to this country in the last four years and I have great faith in Joe Biden to turn this around and I want to be part of it,” Durbin said in an interview.
“I also think, putting ego aside for a moment here, that I’m in a position to be helpful in the Senate for our state. I talk to Gov. (J.B.) Pritzker more often than any governor since I’ve been elected. I know we face real challenges and I hope to be able to help here in Washington,” said Durbin who also is a member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee.
Durbin has called his vote in support of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, one of the most important he has cast during his time in the Senate. He said preserving and improving the law, particularly continuing coverage of preexisting medical conditions, is also motivating his bid for reelection.
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“Let’s be very blunt about this — this president and many Republicans hate anything with Obama’s name on it and they labeled this Obamacare from the start,” he said. The GOP’s opposition to the program “is a definition of who they are as Republicans,” he said.
Durbin backs a new large-scale round of COVID-19 economic relief, including direct cash benefits for families and supplemental unemployment assistance as well as aid to state and local governments. But given the partisan impasse between a Senate controlled by Republicans and Democrats who run the House, Durbin lamented, “I think realistically it will take a new president before we pass a stimulus package.”
Durbin also has been a longtime supporter of tougher gun control laws and efforts to halt the flow of illegal guns from out of state into Chicago.
Then-Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran speaks to the Lake County Board in 2014 in Waukegan. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Curran, 57, the former three-term sheriff of Lake County, won a six-way contest for the Republican nomination in March, getting 41.5% of the vote. In contests for county sheriff, he won in 2006 as a Democrat, then switched parties for wins in 2010 and 2014 before losing by 137 votes in 2018.
Curran has previously been a critic of Trump and once called him “horrible for our brand." But Curran has since gone all-in for the president’s reelection. A critic of pandemic restrictions, he’s echoed Trump in criticizing Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“Fauci’s pitching is about as accurate as his advice on combating #COVID19,” Curran tweeted, after Fauci’s wayward first pitch at a Washington Nationals game.
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But the GOP isn’t returning the favor. “I have no support from the NRSC, RNC & hardly any from the ILGOP,” he said on Twitter, referring to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Republican National Committee and the Illinois GOP.
Federal campaign spending reports showed Curran started October with $35,198 in cash. Tim Schneider, the state GOP chairman, urged Republicans to “send him a few dollars if you can for the final stretch.”
With no TV advertising budget, Curran has largely employed social media to promote his campaign. Concerned that people didn’t seem to know he was running against Durbin, he added the words “Dick Durbin’s opponent” to his Twitter account.
Curran has sought to use the recent issues of civil unrest and rioting as a reason to send someone with his law enforcement background to Washington. In a right-wing YouTube interview, he indicated that divine intervention played a role in his candidacy.
“At Republican events, we ask, ‘Does God make mistakes? Do you think there’s accidents in the world? Does providence play a part in our lives?’ So why is it that in the most unlawful time in American history, somebody who has given his whole career to law enforcement as a county, state and federal prosecutor and a longtime sheriff of the third largest county in Illinois out of 102 counties is drawn into this race?” he said.
At a “Back the Blue” Grant Park rally in July in support of law enforcement, Curran said a number of Republican candidates have police or military backgrounds and said that should be compared to the state’s Democratic political leaders.
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“It’s really a battle of good versus evil. We’re going to storm the gates of hell. You know where hell is? Hell is the mayor’s office. Hell is in the governor’s office. Hell is in Springfield. Hell is in Dick Durbin’s chamber in Washington,” Curran said.
Curran also has been an outspoken opponent of abortion — to the point that just two days after the death of U.S. Rep. John Lewis, he contended the Black congressman, widely regarded as an icon of the civil rights movement, was “not much of a civil rights leader” given his support of abortion rights.
“If you want to know why there’s violence in the streets of Chicago, why it’s the most violent city in America, it’s because there’s no respect for the sanctity of human life,” he said.
Curran has at times objected to those who say his Senate candidacy is steeped in his religion. But in an Oct. 18, 2011, interview with PBS' Frontline, he described his approach: “In terms of Republican/Democrat politics, I will always prioritize my faith over my political affiliation on every issue, and to me it’s an easy choice. I don’t fit neatly into the Republican agenda. I don’t fit into the Democratic agenda on many issues. That’s my core on which I am going to decide issues.”
Wilson is the unknown factor in the race. The son of sharecroppers who rose from janitor at a McDonald’s to own several franchises before entering the food- and medical-supply business, Wilson, his gospel orchestra, his singing and his cash giveaways are most well known in the Black community.
He received about 50,000 votes in each of his mayoral bids, good for almost 11% of the ballots cast, in finishing in third place in 2015 and in fourth place in 2019.
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Chicago businessman Willie Wilson, left, with former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Oct. 21, 2020, after Blagojevich endorsed Wilson for the U.S. Senate seat held by incumbent Dick Durbin, during a news conference in Chicago. (Charles Rex Arbogast / AP)
Though he ran briefly as a Democratic presidential candidate, Wilson’s interests have shifted more Republican. He voted for Trump in 2016, but now says he’s unsure who he will vote for. Wilson also aligned himself with one-term Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. He recently hailed his endorsement from disgraced former Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who has labeled himself a “Trumpocrat.”
Wilson has long been known for his controversial cash handouts, sometimes in churches, sometimes outside Cook County Jail for bond money. The State Board of Elections ruled the giveaways did not violate election law, noting Wilson’s history of charitable giving. A federal campaign finance expert said that also would likely be the case with Wilson’s $25 Walmart card handouts.
His distribution of face masks to Chicago police also helped earn him the endorsement of the Chicago Federation of Police. He’s also got the backing of three city aldermen: Anthony Napolitano (41st), Nick Sposato (38th),and Chris Taliaferro (29th).
Wilson has given his self-funded campaign more than $3 million. He has done some limited advertising and like Curran contends Durbin has served in Washington for too long.
Wilson has proposed equity in the distribution of government resources across the city. He also has reached into some of Durbin’s voting history, including support as a congressman of the 1994 crime bill that was enacted by Democrats under President Bill Clinton but which is now widely criticized for unfairly penalizing African Americans.
Durbin said the law was an attempt to curb a spiraling crack cocaine problem but “that experiment failed.” He pointed to criminal justice and sentencing reforms he sponsored that were signed into law by both Obama and Trump.
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Durbin said internal early polling suggested Wilson would receive about 15% of the state’s Black vote. The senator has begun running ads touting the endorsement of former President Barack Obama and Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
“His votes are my votes,” Durbin said of Wilson. “These are people who traditionally would support me, I believe. Most them, not all of them, but most of them, so I take him seriously.”
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chicagotribune--2020-10-23--‘So happy to bring my son home.’ 10-year-old boy survives severe inflammatory syndrome associated wi

‘So happy to bring my son home.’ 10-year-old boy survives severe inflammatory syndrome associated with COVID-19.

“ Because there ’ s still so much we don ’ t know about this condition from the long-term perspective @ @ @ @ @ “ Though Joshua ’ s heart function and artery blood vessel enlargement all went back @ @ @ @ @ left the hospital — which is unbelievable and demonstrates how resilient these kids are — @ @ @ @ @ cautious because we don ’ t have experience , we don ’ t have data @ @ @ @ @ a year they ’ re going to be just fine .
Or in six months @ @ @ @ @ be just fine .
We just don ’ t know that .
”

Joshua Smith, 10, tries to concentrate in front of his computer at home in South Holland on Oct. 12, 2020. Joshua Smith caught COVID-19 in April and then developed a severe Kawasaki-like illness called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
First the otherwise healthy 10-year-old boy complained of a headache and no appetite, followed by a high fever that wouldn’t subside with pain relievers.
A few days later, the whites of his eyes turned an eerie shade of red and he became so weak he could no longer walk on his own.
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About 2 a.m. April 28, an ambulance rushed Joshua Smith to University of Chicago Medicine’s Comer Children’s Hospital, where he would be diagnosed with a Kawasaki-like illness — an uncommon disease marked by a high fever and swelled blood vessels — that had recently surfaced in kids residing in COVID-19 hot spots in Europe and New York.
Joshua’s mother recalled praying for her son as she drove behind the ambulance, its flashing red and blue lights intermittently filling the darkness beyond her windshield. No clinician could immediately explain what had made Joshua grow so ill so quickly.
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“I was scared,” said Lagwena Smith, 41, of south suburban South Holland. “I didn’t know what was going on, what he was going through. It was definitely scary.”
The condition now known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is believed to be a rare but severe complication following a COVID-19 infection that shares some similarities with Kawasaki disease and toxic shock syndrome.
The cause of MIS-C is unknown, but the syndrome is thought to be an excessive immune response following a known COVID-19 infection or likely exposure. Patients often have a high fever, and their organs — including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes and gastrointestinal system — can become inflamed and fail. Symptoms can include fever, rashes, rapid breathing, fatigue, red eyes, fast heartbeat as well as redness in hands, feet, lips or tongue.
A few cases of a similar inflammatory syndrome have been recently reported in adults as well.
Nationwide, more than a thousand cases have been confirmed in children and 20 deaths have been attributed to the syndrome since May, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Four MIS-C patients ranging from 2 to 19 have died in Louisiana, two with existing health conditions and two with no known previous health problems. The deaths of two children younger than 12 in New York were also attributed to the syndrome, which seems to disproportionately hit Black and Hispanic patients.
Illinois has reported 30 cases of MIS-C to the CDC since May, most from Cook County and the collar counties. All patients had tested positive for the virus or antibodies to COVID-19, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
So far, all children who had MIS-C in Illinois have survived, state health authorities said.
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After two weeks in the hospital, Joshua was discharged in mid-May. His mother says he’s “back to his usual self,” though cardiologists have restricted his physical activity as he continues to heal.
“I feel great,” he said. “I feel the same. I want to run and do sports.”
Joshua Smith, 10, right, plays video games with his twin brother, Jeremiah, at home in South Holland on Oct. 12, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
The fifth grader said he misses playing basketball and jumping on trampolines. He longs to ride bikes again with his fraternal twin brother, Jeremiah, who never exhibited any COVID-19 symptoms and didn’t get MIS-C.
“The bottom line is we still don’t understand why MIS-C affects some and doesn’t affect others,” said Dr. Julia Rosebush, assistant professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Comer, one of the physicians who treated Joshua. “We’re still trying to figure out what it is that predisposes someone to developing it.”
So many questions linger about the mysterious disorder, as scientists and physicians work to better understand the new coronavirus as well as this peculiar complication.
“That’s where I think a lot of the research is headed now, trying to determine who gets this,” Rosebush said. “Who do we have to keep a special eye out for? Who do we need to watch carefully? Those are the things the research questions are trying to answer now.”
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A medical puzzle
As one of the earliest cases of MIS-C diagnosed in the United States, Joshua’s condition was initially a bit of a puzzle for physicians.
His mom had tested positive for the novel coronavirus on March 24, likely contracted from her job at a local hospital. Lagwena Smith, a mother of four sons, said she tried her best to stay in her room and self-isolate from the rest of her family.
But a month later, Joshua became sick. Lagwena Smith took him for a COVID-19 test at a nearby hospital in northwest Indiana, but as they approached the outdoor testing tent, the boy could barely stay upright and leaned on his mother for support.
“I couldn’t even feel my legs,” he said. “It was a weird feeling.”
He was transferred to Comer via ambulance, a ride he doesn’t much remember because he was so fatigued that he fell asleep.
His condition bore some similarities to Kawasaki disease.
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Joshua’s blood pressure was dangerously low. An echocardiogram revealed that one of the arteries leading to his heart was bigger than normal.
“That in the presence of fever is very concerning for Kawasaki disease,” Rosebush said.
But he also presented in ways that aren’t very common with Kawasaki disease: His heart was not pumping as effectively as it should have been, she said. And the illness is normally seen in much younger children.
“That, accompanied with the bigger artery, made it very confusing for us,” she said. “Things were not adding up. So we tried to entertain a whole host of diagnoses.”
At the same time, news reports from Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom cropped up expressing alarm over a new condition emerging in children in COVID-19 hot spots. Then Britain’s Paediatric Intensive Care Society issued an alert to its physicians warning of an increase in children hospitalized with “a multi-system inflammatory state requiring intensive care.”
“As we started to piece the story together, we felt that COVID had to be related somehow to this,” Rosebush said.
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Joshua tested negative for COVID-19 on two different swab tests. But then a blood sample sent to Mayo Clinic in Minnesota for antibody testing came back positive, indicating a previous COVID-19 infection.
Since then, the CDC has found that the age range for most cases was 1 to 14, with an average age of 8 years. About 75% of patients have been Black or Hispanic; 98% tested positive for the virus and the other 2% were around someone with a COVID-19 infection.
Joshua was the first MIS-C case at Comer, but two more children would be admitted with the condition that same week, Rosebush said. She estimates the hospital has cared for eight to 10 children with the condition so far.
Joshua’s case helped physicians develop MIS-C guidelines for the hospital and state, establishing protocols for future patients.
“We have a heightened sense of awareness, now that we have experienced this,” Rosebush said. “And we’re ready to see more cases in the future. Because now we understand, we know and we’re continuing to learn as we go. There’s a lot more we have to learn about the condition at this point.”
The school dilemma
Joshua’s condition improved almost immediately after he was hospitalized.
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“It almost seemed as if once he transferred to Comer, things settled down for a period,” Rosebush said, recalling that his biggest concern a few days later was getting off a liquid diet and eating some real food.
Joshua Smith, 10, is trying to concentrate in front of his computer at home in South Holland on Oct. 12, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
He spent one week in the intensive care unit and another on the main floor, treated with corticosteroids to decrease inflammation and blood thinners to prevent blood clots, among other medications.
Following his May 16 discharge, his mother and brothers threw him a homecoming party, serving sausage pizza and a vanilla-and-chocolate marble cake with “Congratulations!” written atop in blue icing.
“I was happy to bring my son home; I’ll take that over anything in the world,” Lagwena Smith said. “I wouldn’t wish this on anybody, on no parent.”
Even though Joshua’s feeling healthy, his physicians are cautious.
“Because there’s still so much we don’t know about this condition from the long-term perspective,” Rosebush said. “Though Joshua’s heart function and artery blood vessel enlargement all went back to normal before he even left the hospital — which is unbelievable and demonstrates how resilient these kids are — we want to be extra cautious because we don’t have experience, we don’t have data that tells us … in a year they’re going to be just fine. Or in six months they’re going to be just fine. We just don’t know that.”
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An August article exploring MIS-C cases worldwide published in the medical journal The Lancet echoes this sense of uncertainty.
“Much remains unknown regarding the epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical spectrum, and long-term outcomes of MIS-C,” the article said.
As her son recuperates, Lagwena Smith said it can be difficult to hear from people who refuse to wear masks or still insist the virus — which has killed more than 1.1 million and infected more than 41 million worldwide — is a hoax.
Although her symptoms began months ago, she said she still has fatigue and other long-haul medical issues. Occasionally she’ll hear folks repeat the myth that children can’t get COVID-19 or that there’s no risk for youths.
“And I say that kids can catch the virus too,” she said. “I say my son had it and he almost died.”
Joshua is attending school virtually. As some parents are clamoring for more in-person instruction, Lagwena Smith said she’s glad his classes are entirely online, because she believes it’s safer.
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“You don’t know what the other people are doing or where the kids are going,” she said. “Not just the time that they’re with their classmates, it’s the time that they see others, or their grandparents or their parents. I’m happy that they’re doing the home-school.”
Rosebush also dispelled the notion that children can’t contract or transmit the virus.
“I think it’s important that we don’t continue this narrative that has been put out there that kids don’t get COVID,” she said. “That’s absolutely untrue.”
Yet she stressed that the condition is extremely uncommon.
“MISC-C is exceedingly rare,” she said. “And that shouldn’t be a primary reason to keep your child out of school. There are so many other reasons that people are making the decision to keep their child at home or move to a hybrid format at this point.”
Many local schools have recently shifted to hybrid systems — a mix of in-person education and virtual learning — with some students attending in-person school for the first time in months. Success has been spotty, with some districts reverting back to online formats in a matter of days or weeks due to virus outbreaks or climbing local positivity rates.
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Rosebush, though, believes in-person education is possible with strict COVID-19 precautions.
“What we do know is that masking, hand-washing, physical distancing, we know that works to curb the spread,” she said. “And I think if teachers and administrators can be good enforcers of those particular rules, kids can attend school safely and they’ll get that much-needed social and emotional development that they need, that they are not going to be able to do successfully at home. It’s a really hard balance to strike.”
eleventis@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-23--Column: To vote is to hope

Column: To vote is to hope

I stopped to chat — masked , at a distance — with a few other voters who were walking in @ @ @ @ @ couple said they liked the extra security of bringing it in themselves .
Others felt @ @ @ @ @ that walking it in provided the best of both worlds : You got to take @ @ @ @ @ comfort of home , to fill in the ballot , but you also got the @ @ @ @ @ and community that comes with going to the polling place .

I walked my ballot up to the drop box at the neighborhood high school a couple of days ago and for a few minutes, in the company of the autumn leaves and all those other voters, it was possible to believe that everything is going to be fine.
The majority of Americans would vote for sanity and decency. The votes would be properly counted. The world would never be perfect, but soon it would get better.
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To vote is to hope.
I’d hung on to my ballot for a while after it arrived in the mail, keeping it within eyeshot so that I could hear it every time it asked, “What are you waiting for?”
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I wasn’t sure why I was waiting. I knew who I was voting for and was eager to do it. I knew that the earlier we all vote the less likely we’ll be to get entangled in election shenanigans when the November deadline comes.
Still, the ballot sat there. I received a couple of emails from the Chicago Board of Elections warning, “Our records indicate that we have not yet received your Vote By Mail ballot” and providing a video tutorial in case I was confused. I wasn’t confused, and I was heartened that my ballot was being officially tracked, but I kept dawdling.
What was I waiting for?
I think I waited because the ballot represented possibility. It was like a gift you didn’t want to unwrap immediately.
But with only two weeks before official Election Day, I knew it was time. So I cleared the table, turned off the radio, found a pen that hadn’t run out of ink, read the ballot instructions, twice, and began filling in the little circles, as nervous as a teenager taking the SAT.
Because of the interminable list of judges — seriously, isn’t there a better way to organize that mess? — it took me a while. Then I checked and double-checked to make sure I’d voted the way I meant to, filled out the envelope, signed it, sealed it, and walked it to the high school.
The day was pleasantly autumnal, and there was a line for people voting in person, just as there has been every day since early voting started.
Where did all these people come from? How did we ever vote in a single day?
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These voting lines will go down in history as a vital image of this momentous moment in 2020: Americans wearing masks, keeping their distance, or trying to, standing in the rain or sitting in lawn chairs in the sun, snacking or knitting, grateful for the entertainment of their phones. Some of the lines, like ones in Georgia, are disgracefully long, but others are uplifting, proof of dedication to this essential democratic act.
I’ve walked past my polling place a couple of times every day since early voting started, and there’s always been a line. Sometimes a dozen people are waiting, sometimes several dozen. But if people are rushed, it doesn’t show.
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And then there’s the procession of people like me, who arrive clutching the mail-in ballot they’ve chosen to deliver by hand.
“So many of those,” said the poll watcher when I slipped my envelope into the box in the school lobby.
I stopped to chat — masked, at a distance — with a few other voters who were walking in their mail ballots. A couple said they liked the extra security of bringing it in themselves. Others felt, as I did, that walking it in provided the best of both worlds: You got to take your time, in the comfort of home, to fill in the ballot, but you also got the sense of purpose, action and community that comes with going to the polling place.
The minute my ballot slipped out of my fingers, through the slot and into the invisible interior of the voting box, I felt two things. One was a pinch of worry. Who would open it? Who would tabulate it? Would someone decide my signature didn’t look like mine?
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But the other, stronger feeling was relief, even exhilaration. I’d done my part as best I could, and it felt good to do it along with all the other Americans who were doing their part.
I walked away with a refrain in my brain: To vote is to hope. To vote is to hope. To vote is to hope.
mschmich@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-23--Column: Trump’s debate performance was fantastic! He didn’t burn down the stage or kill a single per

Column: Trump’s debate performance was fantastic! He didn’t burn down the stage or kill a single person.

Health care !
This is where the president really shined , because he said he absolutely wants to see Obamacare @ @ @ @ @ Supreme Court , something that would take health care away from about 20 million Americans @ @ @ @ @ global pandemic .
Now that may sound bad , but the president made clear he @ @ @ @ @ won ’ t explain to you .

Hello, I am a political pundit who watched the final presidential debate before the November election, and I would like to share with you my expert analysis of President Donald Trump’s performance.
Overall, the president did well Thursday night, in that he did not projectile vomit on former Vice President Joe Biden or unleash a swarm of murder hornets on moderator Kristen Welker of NBC News.
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Trump was able to speak in sentences that were audible and occasionally complete, and in an obvious nod to swing-state voters, he at no point poured gasoline on the stage, lit a match and ran away shouting, “Burn, you (expletives), I’ll see you in (expletive)!”
Demonstrating a striking change in tone from the first presidential debate, Trump did not come across as a writhing, angry body inhabited by the spirit of Charles Manson. Instead, he took on the more affable demeanor of a writhing, angry body inhabited by the spirit of Charles Manson on a day when Manson didn’t interrupt people quite so much.
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Granted, when asked about his handling of the coronavirus pandemic at a time when cases are surging in most states in the country, Trump said: “We’re rounding the turn, we’re rounding the corner. It’s going away.”
But any criticism of that statement should take into account the indisputable fact that, as he was speaking, the president did not pull a baseball bat from under his podium and start assaulting baby ducks. Fairness demands I award that round to Trump.
When the moderator turned to the subject of immigration, one could argue Trump would have been better lighting his hair on fire and running into the sea. But that would be an unfair assessment, because the debate was held in Nashville and the nearest ocean is about a seven-hour drive away.
Welker brought up the gut-wrenching fact that more than 500 children who were separated from their parents at the border under Trump’s own policy still haven’t been reunited.
On the one hand, that’s an unspeakably cruel act, a stain on the fabric of America that will never wash out. On the other hand, Trump cleverly avoided showing a lick of compassion and said this: “Children are brought here by coyotes and lots of bad people. Cartels. And they’re brought here and they used to use them to get into our country.”
That is a strong response. It is factually incorrect, willfully misleading and generally gross, but definitely strong. So again, it’s hard to argue that this hurts the president, at least among voters who enjoy the idea of children being terrorized by the U.S. government.
Trump also said that only immigrants “with the lowest IQ” show up to asylum hearings. To the untrained ear, that may sound wildly insulting and transparently racist, the kind of thought that could only wriggle out from an emotionless mind that views life as an unending series of transactions. But it’s worth noting that it is also a lie. So…well, anyway, let’s get to the next topic.
Health care! This is where the president really shined, because he said he absolutely wants to see Obamacare struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, something that would take health care away from about 20 million Americans in the midst of a pandemic. Now that may sound bad, but the president made clear he has a plan that he won’t explain to you.
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“I’d like to terminate Obamacare and come up with a brand-new beautiful health care,” Trump said.
OK, that sounds a bit vague, particularly since Trump has been promising this beautiful plan for four years, but the president swiftly redeemed himself by saying: “The Democrats will do it because there will be tremendous pressure on them, and we might even have the House by that time, and I think we’re going to win the House, OK?”
Sure, that might sound like a sentence created by an random-word generator dissatisfied with its lot in life. Or the ramblings of a person who fell down the stairs a few too many times. But as Trump spoke, he did not murder a single busload of nuns, so his commitment to the health of all Americans was clear.
In conclusion, Trump lied so much that 27 fact-checkers had to be hospitalized, he insulted immigrants, he declared to a Black moderator that he was “the least racist person in the room,” he shrugged off children orphaned by his own administration’s policies and he parroted a slew of hackneyed conspiracy theories about Biden and his family that only make sense if you run a chapter of the Sean Hannity Fan Club.
But, importantly, President Trump did not, at any point, drop his pants and run across the stage screaming “BENGHAZI!!!” while injecting bleach into his arm. So you have to give credit where credit is due.
Bottom line: The debate was a clear victory for Trump. Something he and his supporters knew well before the whole thing started.
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rhuppke@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-23--Battle of billionaires: Griffin slams Pritzker push for  graduated income tax amendment in email to

Battle of billionaires: Griffin slams Pritzker push for  graduated income tax amendment in email to employees

Earlier this month , Pritzker said he and his wife , M.K.
, paid $ 118,255 in state income taxes @ @ @ @ @ of $ 2.4 million .
Additionally , the governor ’ s office said trusts benefiting @ @ @ @ @ which were set up in the Bahamas by his grandfather , paid $ 6.7 million @ @ @ @ @ rate of 6.45 % .
The governor ’ s campaign said graduated tax rates that @ @ @ @ @ amendment is adopted would mean they and the trusts would pay an additional $ 3.7 @ @ @ @ @

Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin slammed Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker as “a shameless master of personal tax avoidance” Thursday in an email to his Chicago employees that criticized the governor’s push for a graduated-income tax rate amendment.
Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel, has been the chief funder of opposition forces to the amendment proposal, which sits atop the Nov. 3 ballot, to change from Illinois' mandated flat-rate income tax. Griffin has given the Coalition to Stop the Tax Hike Amendment $46.75 million.
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Pritzker, a billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune, has been the main funder for proponents of the amendment, which they have dubbed the “fair tax.” The issue is the first-term governor’s top agenda item and he has given $56.5 million to the Vote Yes for Fairness group.
But amid a flurry of expensive TV ads on both sides, Griffin’s email to approximately 1,000 Chicago employees of Citadel represents a personal escalation of the battle of the two billionaires on the front lines of the issue. Griffin is regarded as the state’s wealthiest person, worth an estimated $15 billion, according to Forbes. Pritzker is worth $3.4 billion, Forbes said.
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[ Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s graduated-rate income tax: Here’s what you need to know ]
“I am not willing to stand by as, once again, spineless politicians try to sell a trick disguised as a solution. Particularly not from a governor who, having inherited a great deal of wealth, has worked so diligently to avoid paying taxes himself,” Griffin wrote in an email obtained by the Tribune, which was verified by a company spokesman.
“Not only does he hold a significant portion of his wealth in well-documented offshore trusts which pay no state income taxes, he even went so far as to remove toilets from his house in Chicago to achieve an appraisal at a fraction of the home’s value. A porcelain case study in irony,” Griffin said.
A month before his election in November 2018, Pritzker agreed to repay the Cook County treasurer’s office more than $330,000 in property tax breaks and tax refunds that the county’s inspector general contended he obtained as a result of a “scheme to defraud” taxpayers. That included the removal of toilets to help obtain a property tax reduction from an adjoining Gold Coast mansion he purchased.
[ Illinois income tax calculator: How would Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s proposed graduated income tax affect you? ]
Earlier this month, Pritzker said he and his wife, M.K., paid $118,255 in state income taxes on an adjusted gross income of $2.4 million. Additionally, the governor’s office said trusts benefiting the governor, many of which were set up in the Bahamas by his grandfather, paid $6.7 million in Illinois taxes at a rate of 6.45%. The governor’s campaign said graduated tax rates that would take effect if the amendment is adopted would mean they and the trusts would pay an additional $3.7 million in state taxes.
A person close to Griffin reported he paid well over $100M in state income taxes last year.
Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel, in 2014. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
Pritzker’s office and the governor’s pro-amendment group said Griffin was still carrying water for former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, who Pritzker defeated in 2018. Griffin gave Rauner’s campaign $20 million.
“Personal attacks and lies don’t change the facts. Gov. Pritzker has made major strides repairing the damage that Ken Griffin’s friend Bruce Rauner inflicted on Illinois and he is committed to making sure that the middle class doesn’t pay to clean up their mess,” Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyah said.
The amendment, if ratified by voters, would switch Illinois from a flat personal tax rate, now at 4.95% across all incomes, to a graduated-rate structure with rates that increase along with income. Proponents argue 97% of Illinoisans, those who earn $250,000 or less, would pay at least the same or less in income taxes. It would raise an estimated $3.4 billion over the course of a year.
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[ Fair tax or tax hike? Emotional arguments project hope and fear as voters set to decide what could be Illinois’ biggest taxation shift in decades ]
But opponents contend the amendment would allow lawmakers to cherry pick various income groups, saying it would hurt business and jobs. They warn that due to pandemic restrictions, the revenue raised by the switch would not cover an estimated $5 billion state budget deficit and would create an exodus of wealthy taxpayers to states with no income tax.
“Pritzker — a shameless master of personal tax avoidance — is well aware that many of the state’s top taxpayers will soon be decamping for states with more attractive tax policies. Under our federalist system, each state is free to compete to encourage companies and employees to join its community. Governors of Florida, Texas and other states have made compelling pitches for businesses — like Citadel — to leave Illinois,” Griffin wrote.
Citadel is planning to open a new office in Miami.
Griffin said the proposed amendment was a symbol of “Springfield’s continued grotesque and willful fiscal irresponsibility” that “leaves our state on the brink of disaster with an intensifying budget deficit, a public pension crisis and the worst credit rating and outbound migration in the country.”
In his email, Griffin said he was troubled by protesters who demonstrated outside Citadel’s Loop office and “misrepresented my deep commitment to the youth of our city.” He said his firm has “brought countless families to the state, led important philanthropic and community initiatives and, together, have made Illinois a better place to live and raise a family.”
“It is my hope that Citadel will not be one of the last great success stories written in Chicago,” Griffin wrote.
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Quentin Fulks, chairman of the Pritzker-backed Vote Yes for Fairness pro-amendment group, said Griffin backed the former Republican governor Rauner “who while doing Griffin’s bidding dragged down the state’s credit rating to near junk status, shuttered social service providers, and racked up billions in unpaid bills.”
Griffin, he said, “now makes $1.5 billion in a single year” and is “spending nearly $50 million to ensure he can continue to pay the same tax rate as a nurse or a grocery store clerk.”
“It’s clear that Ken Griffin is still bitter that his friend Bruce Rauner lost in 2018, but it’s pathetic and despicable he’s taking it out by fighting against a tax cut for 97% of Illinois families.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Illinois' current flat personal tax rate. It is now 4.95% across all incomes.
rap30@aol.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-23--Hours after Lightfoot announces new COVID-19 restrictions, Birx warns during Chicago visit that clos

Hours after Lightfoot announces new COVID-19 restrictions, Birx warns during Chicago visit that closing public spaces won’t be enough

“ It won ’ t be as simple as closing public spaces because public spaces … were very safe over @ @ @ @ @ safe , ” Birx said .
“ This is really something that has happened in @ @ @ @ @ weeks .
What has happened in the last three to four weeks is that people @ @ @ @ @ indoors .
”

Just hours after Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced new restrictions on businesses in response to rising COVID-19 cases, White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx cautioned that closing public spaces may not stop the illness’s spread.
Birx said it’s possible some of the recent spread is happening in people’s homes, during family gatherings, as the weather gets colder. She spoke at a news conference following a private meeting with leaders from Rush University System for Health, Northwestern Medicine and the Illinois and Chicago departments of public health at Northwestern Memorial Hospital on Thursday.
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“It won’t be as simple as closing public spaces because public spaces … were very safe over the summer and probably remain safe,” Birx said. “This is really something that has happened in the last three to four weeks. What has happened in the last three to four weeks is that people have moved their social gatherings indoors.”
On Thursday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a curfew for nonessential businesses and no more indoor service at bars that don’t serve food. Gov. J.B. Pritzker has also announced tighter restrictions on bars, restaurants and gatherings in suburban counties with high COVID-19 positivity rates.
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[ Will drive-thru COVID-19 testing survive the Chicago winter? ]
On Thursday the state announced 4,942 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, and the statewide rolling positivity rate stood at 5.7%, up from 3.7% two weeks earlier. In Illinois, 2,463 patients were in the hospital with COVID-19, according to Thursday figures,, up from 1,812 two weeks earlier.
Birx also said Thursday that she advocated for weekly testing while meeting privately with hospital and public health leaders.
She said, at the news conference, that finding the “silent cases” and asymptomatic cases is “critical in preventing community spread.”
She recommended asking certain community members — such as community college students, teachers or hospital workers — if they would be willing to be tested weekly. She said universities that have tested students weekly have had more success limiting infections than those that only tested students who had been directly exposed to COVID-19 or had symptoms.
[ As temperatures drop and COVID-19 cases rise, gyms turn to virtual memberships ]
Birx said testing, along with mask-wearing and social distancing, are key to getting the spread of COVID-19 under control.
When asked what she’s doing to get President Donald Trump to understand the importance of social distancing and mask-wearing, she said: “My public health guidance is consistent no matter who I’m speaking to. I think you can see there’s a diversity of how people relate to that message.”


chicagotribune--2020-10-24--Jewish groups allege an ‘alarming increase in anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism’ at University of Illin

Jewish groups allege an ‘alarming increase in anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism’ at University of Illinois’ Urbana-Champaign campus

“ Over the past five years , the Jewish and pro-Israel students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have @ @ @ @ @ increase in anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism , ” the complaint says , according to a copy @ @ @ @ @ a public records request .
“ The anti-Semitism comes from both ends of the political @ @ @ @ @ with swastikas by white supremacists on the extreme right while being labeled white supremacists by @ @ @ @ @

In a federal civil rights complaint, three notable Jewish organizations are asking the U.S. Department of Education to investigate what they call “an unrelenting campaign of intimidation and harassment" of Jewish and pro-Israel students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, located in Washington, filed the complaint in conjunction with the Chicago-based Jewish United Fund and Hillel International. The organizations publicly shared the allegations Friday because they said efforts to resolve the issues have stalled, though the complaint was submitted in March.
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“Over the past five years, the Jewish and pro-Israel students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been subjected to an alarming increase in anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism,” the complaint says, according to a copy obtained by the Tribune through a public records request. “The anti-Semitism comes from both ends of the political spectrum: Jews are peppered with swastikas by white supremacists on the extreme right while being labeled white supremacists by the extreme left.”
A University of Illinois spokeswoman said the school was “engaged in a long, meaningful and what we believed was a collaborative discussion” with stakeholders about concerns raised in the complaint and that it never tolerates anti-Semitism or other forms of bigotry. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)
A university spokeswoman said the school has been working with the groups to address their concerns and that campus leaders “condemn acts and expressions of anti-Semitism.”
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The complaint, submitted to the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, details the experiences of two U. of I. students and was filed on behalf of all Jewish and pro-Israel students on campus, the complaint says. It lists 35 examples of alleged discrimination, including multiple incidents of vandalism to religious objects on campus and graffiti depicting swastikas.
The complaint also cites comments from a pro-Palestinian student group that equated Zionism, a movement supporting Israel, with “white supremacy,” and a diversity presentation that was given to resident advisers in September 2019 titled, “Palestine & Great Return March: Palestinian Resistance to 70 Years of Israeli Terror,” the complaint says.
Requests for comment from the student group, Students for Justice in Palestine, was not returned Friday.
U. of I. spokeswoman Robin Kaler said the university learned of the complaint this summer after it was sent to the Higher Learning Commission, an agency that accredits colleges and universities in 19 states, including Illinois. The commission asked U. of I. to respond to the allegations in July, according to correspondence provided by the university.
The commission determined there was no “substantive noncompliance” of accreditation requirements, according to the correspondence. A spokesman for the commission said it does not comment publicly on complaints but reviews “all complaints received in accordance with its policies and procedures.”
Kaler said the university was “engaged in a long, meaningful and what we believed was a collaborative discussion” about concerns raised in the complaint with stakeholders and that it never tolerates anti-Semitism or other forms of bigotry.
But JUF President Lonnie Nasatir said the three organizations are “frustrated” that little progress has been made. Over the years, JUF has chronicled the incidents as they arise on campus. “We continued to get delay, delay, delay,” he said.
Nasatir said U. of I. could improve the environment for Jewish students by adopting the definition of anti-Semitism developed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, recognizing that Zionism is an “integral part of the identity of many Jewish students,” and ensuring that Jewish students can express Zionism without harassment and discrimination.
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The alliance’s definition incorporates modern examples of anti-Semitism, which some critics say are overly broad. According to the definition, anti-Semitism includes “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” and “claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor."
It’s unclear if the Department of Education will open an investigation into the U. of I. complaint. The department’s Office of Civil Rights evaluates all complaints it receives but won’t publicly confirm a submission unless or until it has been accepted for investigation, a spokesman said.
The complaint alleges U. of I. violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination “on the basis of race, color, and national origin” at educational institutions that receive federal money. Though the law does not explicitly mention religion, an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in December stated that Title VI also forbids “discrimination rooted in anti-Semitism as vigorously as against all other forms of discrimination.”
Other administrations have interpreted the law to mean that members of a religious group are also protected by Title VI if they have shared ancestral or ethnic characteristics, according to Alyza Lewin, president and general counsel of the Washington-based center that filed the complaint.
Also unknown is how the allegations will be received on campus. According to Hillel International, about 8% of the undergraduates, or 3,000 students, identify as Jewish.
Bruce Rosenstock, a U. of I. professor of religion, said it’s important to distinguish between acts of anti-Semitism — which he described as vandalism against Jewish institutions and the use of a swastika — from criticism of Zionism.
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“The students who are not in favor of Zionism deserve the same equitable treatment as the Jewish students, who should not be accused of being Nazis because of their identification as Zionists,” said Rosenstock, who teaches a class on the history of anti-Semitism. “That is wrong.”
echerney@chicagotribune.com