I live in Henry County, Illinois. According to this thing I found at the New York Times, where I live is a dangerous place.

Tracking Coronavirus in

Henry County is at a very high risk level.

Full national risk map ›

The risk of getting Covid-19 is based on cases per capita and test positivity.

LOW

MEDIUM

HIGH

VERY HIGH

EXTREMELY HIGH 

I used to eat pork steaks but these days I prefer chicken thighs. I never met a chicken thigh I didn't like.

Texas Pork Producers Association

History of Pork

The pig dates back 40 million years to fossils, which indicates that wild pig-like animals roamed forests and swamps in Europe and Asia. By 4900 B.C., pigs were domesticated in China, and by 1500 B.C., they were being raised in Europe.

On the insistence of Queen Isabella, Christopher Columbus took eight pigs on his voyage to Cuba in 1493. However, it is Hernando de Soto who could be dubbed “the father of the American pork industry.” The explorer landed with America’s first 13 pigs at Tampa Bay, Fla., in 1539.

Native Americans reportedly became very fond of the taste of pork, resulting in some of the worst attacks on the de Soto expedition. By the time of de Soto’s death three years later, his pig herd had grown to 700 head, not including the ones his troops had consumed, those that ran away and became wild pigs (the ancestors of today’s feral pigs or razorbacks) and those given to the Native Americans to help keep peace.

America’s Pork Industry Had Begun

Pig production spread throughout the new colonies. Hernando Cortez introduced hogs to New Mexico in 1600, and Sir Walter Raleigh brought sows to Jamestown Colony, now in Virginia, in 1607.

Semi-wild pigs conducted such rampages in the grain fields of New York that colonists who owned a pig 14 or more inches high had to put a ring in the pig’s nose. On Manhattan Island, a long solid wall was constructed on the northern edge of the colony to control roaming herds of pigs, as well as to protect the colonists from native Americans. This area is now known as Wall Street.

The pig population in the Pennsylvania colony num­bered in the thousands by 1660. As the 17th century closed, the typical farmer owned four or five pigs, supply­ing salt pork and bacon for his table, with surpluses sold as barreled pork. Following a practice that had become common in Pennsylvania, pigs were fed a diet of native American corn.

After the Revolutionary War, pioneers began head­ing west, taking their indispensable pigs with them. A wooden crate filled with young pigs often was hung from the axles of prairie schooners.

As western herds grew, so did the need for pork pro­cessing facilities. Packing plants began to spring up in major cities. Pigs were first commercially harvested in Cincinnati, which became known as Porkopolis. More pork was packed there than any other place in the mid- 1800s.

“Drovers” Herd Pigs to Market

Moving pigs to market in the 1850s was no small undertaking. “Drovers” herded their pigs along trails, which later developed into railroad routes. Between 40,000 and 70,000 pigs were driven from Ohio to eastern markets in any one year. Drivers, the drovers’ hired hands, each managed up to 100 hogs, and the herds moved five to eight miles a day, covering distances up to 700 miles.

The refrigerated railroad car transformed the meat industry when it was introduced shortly after the Civil War. It enabled packing plants to be centralized near points of production instead of near points of con­sumption. Large “terminal markets” with railroad access developed in major cities, such as Chicago, Kansas City, St. Joseph, Mo.; and Sioux City, Iowa. Large packing plants were located adjacent to these stockyards. Live pigs were shipped via railroad to the markets, and pork was shipped, again mainly by rail, to consumers nationwide.

As a result of these transportation developments, the pork industry relocated to the upper Midwest, where ample amounts of feedgrains were produced, and the “Corn Belt” also became known as the “Hog Belt.” In fact, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, Indiana and Missouri held the top six spots in state rankings for pork production for many years. Iowa is still No. 1.

The 1980s and 1990s brought major technological developments in the pork industry, some of which allowed production to grow dramatically in states not known for pig production. The most notable growth occurred in North Carolina, which is now the second largest pork- producing state.

Despite inherently more expensive feed, North Carolina producers became cost competitive by using pigs with the genetic capability for higher reproductive efficiency and enhanced lean muscle growth, resulting in better feed efficiency. They also captured economies of size and developed pig-raising methods that controlled disease, and improved productive efficiency. Many producers in other areas have now adopted these same methods.

Today the United States is one of the world’s lead­ing pork-producing countries. Also, the U.S. became the largest pork exporter in 2005 and remains so today. U.S. production accounted for 10 percent of total world supply in 2012.

You can find more information about today’s U.S. pork industry at the Pork Checkoff’s Web site at pork.org.

I live in a Illinois farm town and I can play chess with someone in India. I love the 21st century.

I just played chess with someone in India. He was killing me but I won despite the odds.

He is a student at the best university in India: Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

Sundar Pichai, Chief Executive Officer of Alphabet (Google), was a student there.

Here is the interesting game. I had the White pieces.

https://lichess.org/XNOWD3UD/white#0

I live in Henry County in northwestern Illinois. Most of the voters in this county voted for Trump, but thanks to Chicago and the Chicago suburbs Biden won in Illinois.

President Trump decisively won Henry County over Joe Biden, 15,266 to 9,762. Although, the state did end up in the Blue column at the end of the night, with Illinois going to Biden, 55.1% to Trump’s 43%.

Idiot America, wear a mask for fuck's sake.

        New York Times

BREAKING NEWS

The U.S. reported a record of more than 500,000 cases this past week, as the coronavirus raged across the country, especially the American heartland.

Tuesday, October 27, 2020 10:43 PM EST

The U.S. has reported a record daily average of about 71,000 new cases over the past week, an increase of about 40 percent from the average two weeks earlier. Eighteen states, including Illinois, have recorded their highest seven-day average of new cases, and three states (Tennessee, Wisconsin and Oklahoma) have set a record seven-day average for deaths. On Tuesday, Oklahoma and Wyoming broke single-day death records and Kentucky reported a new daily cases record.

Read the latest

This is interesting because I live in Illinois. "Record numbers of daily infections are reported in six states, including Ohio and Illinois."

New York Times

Record numbers of daily infections are reported in six states, including Ohio and Illinois.

Reports of new infections poured in at alarming levels on Saturday as the coronavirus continued to tear through the United States. Six states reported their highest-ever infection totals and more than 76,000 new cases had been announced by evening, one day after the country shattered its single-day record with more than 85,000 new cases.

The country’s case total on Saturday, which was sure to rise through the evening as more states reported data, was already the second highest in a single day. Case numbers on weekends are often lower because some states and counties do not report new data, so the high numbers on Saturday gave reason for alarm.

“This is exploding all over the country,” said Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, whose state is among 16 that have added more cases in the past week than in any other seven-day stretch. “We’ve got to tamp down these cases. The more cases, the more people that end up in the hospital and the more people die.”

Officials in Alaska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico and Illinois announced more new cases on Saturday than on any other day of the pandemic.

Rural areas and small metropolitan regions have seen some of the worst outbreaks in recent weeks, but by Saturday, many large cities were struggling as well.

The counties that include Chicago, Oklahoma City, Minneapolis, Anchorage and El Paso all set single-day records on Saturday. Across the country, hospitalizations have grown by about 40 percent since last month, and they continued to rise on Saturday. Around Chicago, where new restrictions on bars and other businesses took effect Friday, more than twice as many cases are now being identified each day than at the start of October.

“This moment is a critical inflection point for Chicago,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot has said.

States in the Midwest and Mountain West have been reporting some of the country’s most discouraging statistics, but worrisome upticks are occurring all over. New cases have emerged at or near record levels recently in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Arkansas and New Mexico.

“Over the next week, two weeks, three weeks, please be extremely conservative in deciding how much time to spend outside of the home,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico said Friday as she imposed new restrictions on businesses. “The visit to friends can wait — it’s not worth your life, or theirs.”

Experts worry that the growing numbers in need of hospital care will only get worse if cases continue to mount, especially in rural areas where medical facilities could be quickly overwhelmed.

The high case count in part reflects increased testing. With about one million people tested on many days, the country is getting a far more accurate picture of how widely the virus has spread than it did in the spring.

But public health officials warn that Americans are heading into a dangerous phase, as cooler weather forces people indoors, where the virus spreads easily. It could make for a grueling winter that tests the discipline of the many people who have grown weary of masks and of turning down invitations to see family and friends.

Another book about Lincoln: ABE: ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN HIS TIMES By David S. Reynolds Penguin Press, 1,066 pages, $45

Wall Street Journal

BOOKSHELF

‘Abe: Abraham Lincoln in His Times’ Review: Unruly Genius

For David S. Reynolds, Lincoln’s greatness came from a deep affinity for his country’s wild side.

By Gordon S. Wood

September 25, 2020

Some 16,000 books have been written about Abraham Lincoln—more than any other historical figure except Jesus. But there has never been one like this one by David S. Reynolds. The author, a literary scholar and historian at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, has written a marvelous cultural biography that captures Lincoln in all his historical fullness. Mr. Reynolds is a distinguished cultural historian of antebellum America. Among his many books are cultural biographies of Walt Whitman and John Brown and an earlier work, “Beneath the American Renaissance,” which prepared the way for his unusual approach to biography—stunningly revealed in this life of Lincoln.

Lincoln, like Whitman and Brown, was a product of his times; and those times were wild. Whatever we might think about the divisiveness, partisanship and violence of our own era, it is nothing compared to antebellum America. Government in the first half of the 19th century was weak and unstructured, and established institutions were few and far between. The economy was diffuse and unmanageable: Thousands of different kinds of paper-money notes flew about, and risk-taking and bankruptcies were everywhere; even some states went bankrupt. This was a rough-and-tumble world, and duels, rioting and mobbing were commonplace. Alcohol flowed freely, and Americans were drinking more per capita than nearly all other nations, which provoked desperate temperance movements. Fistfights, knifings and other explosions of violence seemed to be ordinary affairs, taking place even in state legislatures and the Congress. Public rhetoric was abrasive and harsh, and zany humor and sensationalism flourished in the popular press; people were especially eager to read lurid reports of suicides. The nervous nation was coming apart, torn by sectional conflict and the struggle over slavery.

This was the disordered and unruly world Lincoln experienced. The future president was born in 1809, and possessed a natural intelligence, an easygoing temperament, an incredible memory and a sense of “innate fairness.” He became unusually tall and strong, which was helpful in the brawling world in which he grew up. But everything else about him he absorbed and adapted from his environment. Far from distancing himself from the wild world of antebellum America, Lincoln, says Mr. Reynolds, “was thoroughly immersed in it.” After he assumed the presidency, he was able to redefine democracy for his fellow Americans “precisely because he had experienced culture in all its dimensions—from high to low, sacred to profane, conservative to radical, sentimental to subversive.”

Much of Lincoln’s greatness, writes Mr. Reynolds, came from his ability to tap into this culture. He was able to respond thoughtfully to the teeming chaos of antebellum America. Lincoln was less a self-made man than an America-made man. He told his law partner, William Herndon, “Conditions make the man and not man the conditions.” But, according to Herndon, Lincoln also “believed firmly in the power of human effort to modify the environments which surround us.” Indeed, his capacity to shape the world around him was crucial to his life and to the life of the nation.

Like any good biographer, Mr. Reynolds takes us through the important events of Lincoln’s life. But unlike previous biographers, Mr. Reynolds spends an extraordinary amount of time presenting his cultural context. In effect, his biography becomes less a narrative of Lincoln’s life than an explanation of his genius. We come to understand fully why Lincoln did what he did, and why he did it when he did it.

Faced with the raw energies of frontier culture, Lincoln developed the ability to tame its wild forces, which accounts for his later measured responses to the uncontrollable social and cultural phenomena of antebellum America. Amid the chaos and passions of that world, Lincoln was always prepared to take a middling course and to avoid fanaticism. “He could take his place securely in the center,” says Mr. Reynolds, “because he had a genuine understanding of both antislavery and proslavery extremists that led him to see that radical militancy could, if carried through, destroy the Union.” Even his heritage was a balance of extremes. With Puritan ancestors in Massachusetts Bay, and Virginia roots on both sides, “Lincoln inherited both the code of honor associated with Cavalier culture and the moral sense attributed to bygone Puritanism.” He ended up in the center of Illinois, which like the nation was divided into antislavery northern and proslavery southern sections.

Although Lincoln had only one year of formal schooling, he early on wanted to make something of himself and had his eyes on a profession. Lincoln chose law, despite its adversarial nature; he favored negotiating between conflicting points of view rather than litigating disputes. Because lawyers were widely mistrusted, Lincoln put great emphasis on honesty, and he was known to return fees if he thought them unfair. He wanted to bring people together and corral the dizzying cultural conditions that were driving people apart. Everywhere he displayed an openness to the world, so much so that Emerson declared he “draws equally all classes, all the extremes of society, till we say the very dogs believe in him.”

As a member of the Illinois state legislature, Lincoln used his genial good nature to draw both sections of the state toward the center and to foster unity. When he served his one term in the House of Representatives, he became a skilled mediator in discussions over slavery. But Lincoln had no stomach for slavery, and while in Washington he tried to get a bill passed that called for the gradual emancipation of slaves in the District of Columbia. In politics he used his unusual face and his gangling awkwardness to great effect; they played into the popular culture’s fascination with the bizarre and the grotesque. Because he was a member of the Whig Party, usually dubbed “aristocrats” or “ruffled-shirt gentry,” he often posed as the humble backwoodsman for political effect. This anticipated the rail-splitter image his supporters invoked at the 1860 convention that nominated him for president.

Lincoln often responded to fleeting cultural events and circumstances, particular events and circumstances largely forgotten by later generations; indeed, most of these ephemeral cultural phenomena rarely appear in modern biographies of Lincoln. Because Mr. Reynolds knows so much about this forgotten culture of antebellum America—both the high and low parts of it—he is able to recover the often peculiar and evanescent incidents and conditions that influenced Lincoln’s actions and attitudes.

Thus Lincoln’s fabled jesting and storytelling can best be explained within the context of the coarse and smutty humor of the carnival culture of the frontier world in which he grew up. Lincoln, like many other Americans, feasted on the violent and bizarre backwoods humor featured in the immensely popular Davy Crockett almanacs and in the columns of William T. Porter’s sporting journal, the Spirit of the Times. He loved telling jokes, including dirty and scatological ones, but he generally used his jokes and stories to make a point.

Instead of looking to forefathers—Puritans and settlers—Lincoln defined the nation’s true founders as the Constitution’s framers.

During the late 1840s, the territorial acquisitions coming out of the Mexican War, which Lincoln opposed, reignited the problem of slavery in the West. The Compromise of 1850, among other things, left the newly acquired territories of New Mexico and Arizona open to slavery. But this was just a foreboding of what was to come in 1854. The Kansas-Nebraska Act in that year aroused Lincoln as nothing before ever had: The act permitted the settlers in those territories to exercise their popular sovereignty and establish slavery if they wished. Stephen A. Douglas, Democratic senator from Illinois, had engineered the act and became its principal defender. Lincoln, who had always hated slavery, now emerged as a notable opponent of Douglas and of the South’s efforts to extend slavery into the West.

But Lincoln had to be careful. The people of Illinois did not like slavery, but they weren’t abolitionists, and they did not want Blacks in their state. Lincoln became radical, but not too radical. To explain Lincoln’s difficult position, Mr. Reynolds invokes the famous tightrope performer of the 1850s, Charles Blondin, who crossed Niagara Falls on a rope with his agent on his back. Many people at the time compared Lincoln to Blondin, because the politician tried to remain centered between radicals and conservatives on slavery and had to lean sometimes left and sometimes right to keep his balance. Lincoln himself found in the tightrope performer a symbol for his centrist position on important issues, especially on slavery. This popular cultural character was important to both Lincoln and his fellow citizens, yet the major biographies of Lincoln don’t mention Blondin. Using popular culture in this way, to fill out the context surrounding Lincoln, is what makes Mr. Reynolds’s biography so different and so compelling.

In 1856 Lincoln helped found the new Republican Party in Illinois, and in 1858 he engaged Douglas in seven debates that established him as a significant national figure. In his confrontation with Douglas, says Mr. Reynolds, he had to use “a conservative cover to appeal to moderates while delivering a fundamentally radical message.” Instead of focusing on the forefathers, who for most Americans had been the Puritans and other 17th-century settlers, Lincoln put the 18th-century revolutionaries and framers front and center as the proper Founding Fathers. Lincoln made the Declaration of Independence, together with its proposition that all men are created equal, the most important document in American history.

He had astute political operators supporting him, and his nomination as the Republican Party’s candidate for the presidency in Chicago in 1860 was not as surprising as many later observers have thought. Although the Democrats and southerners called him “a canting, ill-bred, indecent old man,” whose “want of all dignity must disgust all Americans,” Lincoln had a particular appeal to “Young America” and the b’hoys, or Bowery Boys—working-class butchers, wagon drivers, day laborers and so on—the very people Whitman had put at the heart of his democratic “Leaves of Grass.”

Mr. Reynolds takes us through Lincoln’s presidency, during which he had to use all his Blondin-like talents to guide the country gradually toward emancipation. His Republican Party had many accomplishments besides winning the war and freeing the slaves, and Mr. Reynolds spends some time describing its financial program, the Homestead Act, the land-grant colleges and the beginnings of conservation and land preservation.

But Mr. Reynolds never loses sight of Lincoln’s great contributions in ending slavery and fostering the importance of equality to all Americans. The author quotes Lincoln claiming that he “hated slavery . . . as much as any Abolitionist,” and he mounts a substantial amount of evidence to back up that claim. Lincoln was no racist, and was one of only a few white Americans at the time who weren’t. He welcomed Blacks like Frederick Douglass and Martin Delany to the White House and treated them as friends and equals. Douglass sometimes wavered in his attitude toward Lincoln, especially early on, but in time he became impressed “with his entire freedom from popular prejudice against the colored race”—the first great man whom Douglass had met in the United States “who in no single instance reminded me of the difference between himself and myself, of the difference of color.”

What was perhaps most compelling about Lincoln was his generosity of spirit. He didn’t hate the southern people for their involvement with slavery. He told his northern audience, “They are just what we would be in their situation.” Where did the sympathy and compassion expressed in his Second Inaugural—“With malice toward none; with charity for all”—come from? This big, wonderful book provides the richest cultural context to explain that, and everything else, about Lincoln.

—Mr. Wood, a professor at Brown University, is the author of “Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson” as well as many other works. His book “Constitutionalism and the American Revolution” will be published next year.

Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Appeared in the September 26, 2020, print edition as 'The Age That Made the Man.'

I live in Henry County in Illinois. We still have a coronavirus problem, partly thanks to some young people who don't wear a mask. If you don't wear a mask when you should wear a mask, then you are a stupid fucking asshole who is going to get people killed.

Stark County at Orange Warning Level Henry County Remains at Warning Level

Friday, September 4, 2020

By Sean Kernan

Infections are on the rise in Henry and Stark County and now both counties are on the warning list from Governor J.B Pritzker’s office. According to the latest information from the Henry and Stark County Health Department, the infection rate in Stark County has risen to more than 8% of daily tests conducted in the county. 8% is the warning threshold for every county in the state per the directive of the Governor and the Illinois Department of Public Health. Henry County has remained on the orange warning list for the second week in a row and for good reason. Henry County’s daily infection rate has risen to 13% of all tests conducted daily 3 days in a row.

Duane Stevens, Henry & Stark County Public Health Administrator states, “It is important our area understand how easily COVID-19 is actively spreading. Stark County is experiencing community spread of the virus, meaning that some people testing positive for COVID-19 are not able to pinpoint when or where they may have become infected. This is happening all over the county, not one particular area or town.”

Stevens adds, “We have seen instances of general masking non-compliance by some individuals, businesses, and groups in congregate settings which can lead our current infection numbers. Contact tracing staff members have noted that they are often challenged in their efforts by some cases not being honest in disclosing all their close contacts. We have also seen a lag and delay in seeking testing by individuals with symptoms; as they are attributing them to other maladies such as allergies, stomach flu, sinus infections, etc.”

Another concerning trend, the high percentage of Henry County cases being identified in those 29 years and younger. The Health Department wants to remind young people, the COVID-19 pandemic is not over and it continues to be a serious public health threat. Young people can easily become infected with COVID-19, not experience symptoms and then pass the virus to others more at risk. Those who choose not to wear a mask or disregard the importance of social distancing are putting their parents, grandparents, co-workers, and community at risk.

This is not my problem but it's interesting because it's about people who can't pay their bills because they lost their jobs.

August 27, 2020 To our valued customers,   Over the course of the last five months, we have heard from our customers about the economic challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Individuals and families who have never had trouble paying any bill, let alone their energy bill, find themselves in this situation due to job loss, furlough, or other economic circumstances.      In recent communications, we have shared information with you about financial assistance and payment arrangements available from Ameren Illinois. Now, we want to call special attention to resources that are available to our customers in moderate income ranges.      Through our Fresh Start Program, for example, a family of four with a past due bill, whose income over the last 30 days was between $4,367 and $7,642, may be eligible to receive up to $200 for electric bills and up to $150 for natural gas bills. Income guidelines are based on family size.    Because you may never have been behind on your energy bill, you may be reluctant to call or reach out about receiving support. We cannot emphasize enough the importance of taking action. These funds are here for you, and they are available for a limited time.    Visit AmerenIllinois.com/Recovery for detailed income eligibility guidelines and information on how to receive assistance that's right for you.   Sincerely,   Mary Heger Senior Vice President, Customer Experience

Nobody cares.

I'm half Luxembourg and half Irish.

My Luxembourg ancestors lived on a South Dakota farm.

My Irish ancestors lived on a Minnesota farm.

I exist because my parents were at a dance in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They both were farmers before they moved to a Chicago suburb in Illinois.

These days I live in Illinois in a farm town.

Nobody cares.

Idiot America is infested with stupid fucking idiots.

At the grocery store this morning there was a huge sign that said "You morons have to wear a mask. The store will be fined if you assholes don't wear a mask."

Those were not the exact words on the sign but that was the point.

Despite the sign, I counted 2 assholes with no mask. That's quite a feat because there were less than 10 customers in the store. The 1st asshole got away with it. The manager of the store saw the 2nd asshole and he told him to wear a mask or get out. The 2nd asshole had a mask in his pocket. Why wasn't he wearing his fucking mask? The reason is obvious. He's a fucking moron, aka typical American fucktard.

Idiot America is infested with stupid fucking assholes.

The governor of Illinois is going to force stores to obey the rules about masks, and that's a good thing. In the northwestern Illinois farm town where I live, I shop at a grocery store. There are assholes who visit that store who don't wear a mask. Sometimes just one asshole, and one time there were 6 assholes in that store. The people who work there don't say anything to these assholes. Now they're going have to to do something, for example call the police.

Pritzker to file rules to fine businesses that don’t comply with mask, social distancing up to $2,500

Friday, August 7, 2020

(The Center Square) – Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Friday he wants a rule that would allow businesses to be fined up to $2,500 for failing to enforce regulations for face coverings and social distancing to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Pritzker said the Illinois Department of Public Health is submitting administrative rules to allow for a progression of enforceable actions ranging from an enforcement officer educating an establishment about the rules, to a warning and then to a monetary fine of between $75 and $2,500. He announced the plan at a news conference joined by union leaders, the Illinois Restaurant Association and others.

The governor said the administrative rules will assist law enforcement, local boards of health, school districts and the general public in enforcing the use of face coverings and social gathering restrictions.

“Illinois has made substantial progress in our fight against COVID-19 because the vast majority of communities and business owners have done the right thing,” Pritzker said in a statement. “These rules will help ensure that the minority of people who refuse to act responsibly won’t take our state backward.”

Some more Idiot America stuff.

Today I was at the grocery store and waiting in line to pay for my food. In front of me there was an obese woman who looked like a dog. That's normal for Idiot America. But this one wasn't wearing a mask even though that's against the law in Illinois. I gave the fat dog lots of social distancing.

Then the cashier fucked up, wasting more than 3 of my dollars. Somebody else who had a brain fixed the problem.

When I got outside, as usual there was garbage all over the place. Why do Americans like to throw stuff out their car windows? Maybe it's because they're idiots.

This is in Illinois where I live. Everyone of these morons are not wearing a mask. They are complaining about making children wear a mask in schools. I'm not making this up.

New York Times

This is for myself. Some facts about the special substance in Illinois.

The Illinois General Assembly passed a HB 1438 legalizing recreational marijuana use and sale in the state for adults on May 31, 2019. Governor JB Pritzker signed the bill into law on June 25.

Illinois will be the 11th state to legalize marijuana.

When will marijuana be legal in Illinois? January 1, 2020.

Who will be able to purchase marijuana legally? Adults aged 21 and over.

How much marijuana can be legally purchased or possessed? Up to 30 grams, or about one ounce, of marijuana plant material, edibles totaling no more than 500mg of THC, and five grams of cannabis concentrate products. Non-residents will be able to purchase half those amounts.

How will marijuana be taxed? There is a graduated tax set up for recreational marijuana in Illinois:

• • Marijuana and cannabis-infused products with less than 35% THC will be taxed at 10% of the purchase price

• • Cannabis-infused products with more than 35% THC will be taxed at 20% of the purchase price

• Marijuana with more than 35% THC will be taxed at 25% of the purchase price

Medical marijuana is exempted from these taxes. Individual municipalities can also levy additional taxes on recreational marijuana if they choose to, in .25% increments not exceeding 3.75% in unincorporated areas of a county, .75% in a municipality located in a non-home rule county, and 3% in municipalities located in home rule counties.

Can I grow my own marijuana? Only medical marijuana patients will be able to grow plants at home. They are limited to five plants.

Will I be able to smoke wherever I want? No, you will not be able to smoke marijuana in public legally. Consumption in private residences will be legal. Local jurisdictions will be able to decide for themselves if they allow dispensaries to let people smoke on-site.

Who will be selling marijuana? On January 1, existing medical marijuana cultivators and dispensaries will begin selling to adults until new licenses are approved. Per the law, the state will begin receiving and processing new licenses on March 15, 2020 and new dispensary licenses will be issued starting on May 1, 2020. Another round of licenses will not be issued until after the state completes a disparity and market study of the industry. The second round of licenses must take into account the study’s findings.

JB Pritzker is the governor of Illinois where I live.

Illinois/Governor

J. B. Pritzker

Since 2019

Description

Jay Robert "J. B." Pritzker is an American businessman, philanthropist, and politician serving as the 43rd Governor of Illinois. He is a private business owner based in Chicago and a managing partner and co-founder of the Pritzker Group, and a member of the Pritzker family which owns the Hyatt hotel chain. Wikipedia

On Thursday afternoon, Gov. JB Pritzker announced he will extend the state’s stay at home order until the end of May.

This means I can get a haircut in June. It's about time.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I'm still waiting for a marijuana store in the northwestern Illinois farm town where I live. It should be here in July 2020. I'm interested in marijuana edibles. Smoking is a bad idea. People shouldn't be smoking anything.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Wikipedia - J. B. Pritzker

Marijuana

On May 31, 2019, the Illinois General Assembly passed the Illinois Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act legalizing and regulating the production, consumption, and sale of adult-use cannabis. On June 25, 2019, Pritzker signed the legislation into law, which went into effect on January 1, 2020. Illinois was the eleventh state in the Union to legalize recreational use of marijuana. Criminal records of individuals caught possessing less than 30 grams will be cleared. Tax revenue collected from marijuana sales will be used to invest in impoverished communities impacted by the War on Drugs and in rehabilitation programs for drug abusers.

On December 31, 2019, Pritzker pardoned approximately 11,000 individuals for low-level marijuana convictions.

I'm putting this here because I live in Illinois.

Illinois receives $8M to protect farmland, habitat, water

Associated Press

Posted: May 9, 2020

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Federal agriculture officials have awarded Illinois $8 million to protect working farmland, improve water quality and enhance wildlife habitat through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has joined other groups including The Conservation Fund to plan and coordinate the projects that will be funded with money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Illinois and its partners have pledged more than $11 million in matching funds to support the plan. That includes more than $1.7 million in financial and technical assistance from the Department of Natural Resources.

The Illinois partnership will focus on conservation areas. It will protect habitat corridors along stream segments by using permanent easements on working farmland. Projects to connect farmland with protected natural lands will be implemented to prevent runoff and improve water quality and soil richness.

I'm putting this here for myself. It's about what the Governor of Illinois, J. B. Pritzker, said about the reopening of the state’s economy. I live in Henry County, Illinois.

The Prairie News

Pritzker says reopening could take up to a year.

By Peter Hancock

Capitol News Illinois

Gov. JB Pritzker unveiled a plan Tuesday for the gradual reopening of the state’s economy on a region-by-region basis, but he suggested it could take several months or even a year before the state fully reopens.

“Until we have a vaccine or an effective treatment or enough widespread immunity that new cases fail to materialize, the option of returning to normalcy doesn’t exist,” Pritzker said during his daily briefing in Chicago. “That means we have to learn how to live with COVID-19 until it can be vanquished.”

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 2,122 new cases of COVID-19 and 176 additional virus-related deaths over the previous 24 hours. That represented a sharp increase in daily deaths compared to Monday when only 46 deaths were announced. There were 13,139 tests results reported during that span.

That brings the statewide total for Illinois to 65,962 confirmed cases and 2,838 virus-related deaths since the pandemic first appeared in Illinois.

Locally, Stark County still had one confirmed case as of Tuesday, while Henry County was at 55 cases – 13 of those cases connected to a cluster outbreak stemming from the Tyson Plant in Joslin.

Pritzker outlined the “Restore Illinois” plan that divides the state into four regions and lays out the criteria for each one to move through five stages of reopening.

The first phase, known as the “Rapid Spread”, is what Illinois was in from mid-March through the end of April.

Beginning May 1, Illinois moved into the second phase, “Flattening,” in which the rate of infection and the number of patients admitted to hospital and ICU beds increases at a slower rate. Residents are directed to wear face coverings outside the home and outdoor activities like golf, boating and fishing are allowed while observing social distancing guidelines.

Once a region’s infection rates and hospital usage begins to stabilize or decline, it can enter the third phase, “Recovery,” in which face coverings and social distancing are still the norm. Manufacturing, offices, retail, barbershops and salons may reopen to the public, provided they comply with capacity limits and other safety precautions mandated by IDPH. People will also be allowed to gather in public in groups of 10 or fewer. Once a region reaches the point when 20 percent or fewer of people tested are positive for the disease and the hospitalization rate remains stable or declines over 28 days, it can enter the fourth phase, “Revitalization,” in which public gatherings of up to 50 people are allowed, bars and restaurants reopen, travel resumes and child care and schools reopen under guidance from IDPH. Face coverings and social distancing will remain the norm.

The earliest that could happen for any region would be May 29, Pritzker said.

To be cleared for that phase, regions also must demonstrate that testing is available for anyone and that contact-tracing can be done within 24 hours on at least 90 percent of patients who test positive.

The final phase, “Illinois Restored,” will occur only when a vaccine or highly effective treatment is widely available, or there are no new cases reported over a period.

“It brings me no joy to say this, but based on what the experts tell us and everything we know about this virus and how easily it spreads in a crowd, large conventions, festivals and other major events will be on hold until we reach Phase 5,” Pritzker said.

Pritzker also said the General Assembly might begin meeting before the end of May to address critical issues, including the state budget.

“This is a big state and representatives come from all over the state, hours away, so it may be very difficult to do a lot during the month of May, and certainly while we’re in a stay-athome order and need to remain in this order,” he said.

According to the latest revenue reports, lawmakers might have a bigger budget hole to fill when they return than was initially feared.

The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, or CoGFA, reported that base revenues in April came in $2.6 billion lower than the same month last year, largely because the state pushed the income tax filing deadline from April 15 to July 15. CoGFA also reported that total revenues so far this year are now $1 billion below last year.

In mid-April, Pritzker said Illinois would likely come up $2.7 billion short in the current fiscal year, and $6.2 billion short in the fiscal year that begins July 1. Those were based on estimates from the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget, which works closely with CoGFA.

Asked when he plans to release concrete details, Pritzker said he is working with members of the General Assembly.

“This is clearly the most unusual budget that anybody will have ever seen, because who has ever seen – at least in our lifetimes – the drop-off of revenue because of a pandemic?” he said.

Some news from the New York Times about some American states who are going to throw out lockdown orders so people can work again.

Sweeping lockdown orders are giving way to measures allowing millions of Americans to return to some parts of public life.

Nearly a dozen states tentatively reopened on Friday. But clashes emerged across the country over how it should be done. Partisan battles flared in Illinois and Michigan, where protesters, some of them armed, demanded that Democratic leaders loosen restrictions. And Texas opened restaurants and businesses just a day after the state reported its highest death toll from the coronavirus.

Here’s the latest and a map of which states are starting to open.

Ultimately, the act of reopening will be carried out by individuals, and the decision has not been easy. In homes across the country this week, Americans whose governors said it was time to reopen, as in Colorado, above, wrestled with what to do, weighing what felt like an impossible choice.

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Here in Idiot America we have assholes who bring their weapons everywhere they go, and they're getting away with it.

Michigan: It is legal to carry firearms inside the State Capitol. That's ridiculous. What a fucked up country.

Emily Landon speaks at COVID news conference. Well done!!!