Sheriff Doug Maue The Illinois Department of Corrections, by gubernatorial order, will resume the transfer of individuals from county jails.
This comes after a number of sheriff's departments, including Clinton County, had joined a lawsuit which had aimed to force IDOC and Gov. JB Pritzker to begin accepting new inmates from county jails and detention centers.
IDOC currently has a population of more than 31,000 male and female individuals in 28 facilities, the vast majority of whom, because of their close proximity and contact with each other in housing units and dining halls, are especially vulnerable to contracting and spreading COVID-19, according to Pritzker's executive order 2020-50, issued Monday.
The order also states that although it has taken significant steps throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce the number of individuals in each facility, IDOC continues to have limited housing capacity to isolate and quarantine individuals who present as symptomatic of, or test positive for, COVID-19.
Individuals in county jails awaiting transfer to IDOC facilities, because of their close proximity to and contact with each other, may have been infected with COVID-19.
Pritzker's executive order 2020-13, issued March 26, suspended all admissions from Illinois county jails to the IDOC, at the sole discretion of IDOC acting director, Rob Jeffreys.
The owners of Hidden Lake Winery in Aviston have filed suit against Gov. JB Pritzker alleging his disaster declarations are not valid.
The suit is seeking a court order declaring that there is no public health emergency as defined by Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Steve and Angela Gorazd's attorney, Thomas DeVore of Greenville, also filed suits on behalf of himself in Bond County; Kirk Allen and John Kraft in Edgar County; Daniel English in Richland County; and Riley Craig, Keith Ayre and Chris Schmulbach in Sangamon County.
The complaints are asking judges in those courts to issue orders prohibiting Pritzker from issuing any further disaster declarations in those five counties, using the criteria spelled out in the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act and the data supplied by IDPH.
Plaintiffs in each case are seeking injunctions against Pritzker's disaster declaration, issued to restrict public interaction to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The Gorazds' suit was filed July 23 through DeVore, in the Fourth Judicial Circuit in Clinton County, the county courthouse in Carlyle.
The suit lists Pritzker's declarations that, on five occasions — March 9, April 1 and 30, May 29, and June 26 — a public health emergency existed in Clinton County as a result of COVID-19.
The suit states that belief existed that, on or before July 26, Pritzker would issue another disaster proclamation, declaring that a public health emergency existed in Clinton County.
Pritzker, visiting Rock Island County and Quincy on Monday, said, in a press conference that "things are not moving in the right direction," referring to rising positivity rates in some areas.
Pritzker stopped short, however, of issuing another disaster proclamation.
Sitting down on the play — Aviston first baseman Drew Rakers looks in a high chopper in the first inning of the Express’ 3-run loss to visiting Mt. Vernon last Wednesday. The Express also played in O’Fallon over the weekend. (Photo by Jeremy Chawgo) The Aviston Express Senior Legion baseball team ended their 3-game losing streak with four wins to claim the Greater Midwest Baseball Tournament title in O’Fallon over the weekend.
The Express left no doubt in their title game over Canton after two wins over Southern Illinois and another over St. Louis Nike. The Express are now 14-5-1 on the season.
Their tournament season is now over and they had a game scheduled in Mt. Vernon on Tuesday.
Aviston 9, Canton 1: The Express scored the final nine runs of the game to win the GMB title in O’Fallon on Sunday.
Canton scored one run in the top of the first inning only to see the Express get two in the bottom of the inning and two more in the second inning before putting up four runs in the fourth inning to ignite the rout.
Grant Oster took care of the rest as he went the distance on the mound where he allowed one unearned run on three hits, one walk and five punch outs.
Logan Mattson led the offense with a 2-for-3 effort with one single, one double, a walk and three runs scored. Drew Rakers was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Oster and Nic Burg each had two hits and two RBIs in the win where the Express outhit their foes 9-3.
| Fri., July 24 | 447.28 |
| Sun., July 26 | 447.08 |
| Tues., July 28 | 446.81 |
| July 22 | 1.08" |
| July 23 | .06" |
| July 24 | .00" |
| July 25 | .00" |
| July 26 | .00" |
| July 27 | .00" |
| July 28 | .21" |
