Illinois Editorial Roundup:

Here are editorials published the past week in newspapers around Illinois.

August 2, 2020

Chicago Tribune

Preserve your serenity. Fill out your census form

If you're one of those people who hates it when a stranger shows up uninvited at your home, the coronavirus pandemic has had one upside: keeping you away from door-to-door salespeople, petition-gatherers and religious proselytizers. The chance of getting COVID-19 discourages such outreach, partly because it makes residents even less eager to interact with random visitors. So these days, it's less likely than before that your serenity will be disturbed by the barking of your dog.

But if you want to keep annoying intruders off your lawn and porch, here's some advice: Fill out your census form ASAP. Otherwise, you can expect a personal visit from someone dispatched by the federal government to find out who's living in your home. And it may come at a cliffhanger moment during your favorite Netflix series.

The Census Bureau mailed reminder cards in July, and don't think you can get away with tossing them. Starting Aug. 11, its workers will head out, wearing personal protective equipment, to locate the laggards. They will keep at it until the Oct. 31 census deadline. Now is your last chance to head them off.

There are other good reasons to fill out your census questionnaire. A full count of the people in Illinois and Chicago is especially important at a time when both are losing population. It's population that determines our representation in Congress, as well as our allocation of federal dollars.

If everyone does their duty, there's less chance of losing a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, which would reduce our influence in Congress. There's more of a chance we'll get back our fair share of the taxes we send to Washington - money needed for highways, Medicaid, mass transit, Great Lakes restoration, airport improvements, soil conservation, disabled veterans outreach and dozens of other purposes.

You know those scary fiscal problems the state of Illinois has? Forfeiting federal aid because of a census undercount would only make them worse.

But we are in danger of losing out, because many people aren't submitting their census forms. As of July 30, Illinois had a response rate of 67.4%, above the national average but lower than those of Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan. The response rate was just 62.4% in Cook County and 55.4% in Chicago. Some downstate counties, including Hardin and Calhoun, are below 50%. There's room for improvement just about everywhere. Do we really want neighboring states to get more federal largesse than they deserve, at our expense?

The Trump administration has hindered full participation with its clumsy shenanigans. First, the Commerce Department insisted on including a question about citizenship on the census forms, a ploy that seemed designed to discourage responses from noncitizens and Latinos. The U.S. Supreme Court shot that down last year, concluding that Secretary Wilbur Ross' stated reason for the question - that it would help with enforcement of the Voting Rights Act - was fraudulent.

Then, in July, President Donald Trump ordered that people living in the country illegally not be counted for the apportionment of congressional districts.

This appeared to be another lame gambit to deter some people from participating. But people should filter out all the political theatrics, fill out their census forms and send them in.

Chicagoans are not the only ones who should pay attention when Mayor Lori Lightfoot says: 'œWe need everyone to step up. Five minutes of time, that's all we need, and we can change this thing entirely around.'ť Don't make her come knock on your door.

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August 1, 2020

(Arlington Heights) Daily Herald

The search for the center

We've been feeling some wanderlust lately for a return to normal.

That wishfulness sometimes grows so strong that it becomes an ache in our hearts.

In fact, at times it turns into a longing so deep that we even want to turn off the TV and the cable news and find an escape from the year of the abnormal.

Except that in our pandemic isolation, the TV (not so much cable news, but more so Netflix) has increased in its importance as a needed companion.

This year, after all, we've devolved into the imagined shut-ins Jack Brickhouse always used to reference when proclaiming the public service of broadcast baseball.

Yes, when we start hearkening back to Jack and long-ago afternoons spent with good ol' Channel 9, we clearly are feeling some wanderlust for a return to normal.

We suspect we are not alone.

So many people seem to want to pretend that the threat of COVID-19 is not what it seems. They're certainly wishing we could return to normal.

We all do. Not just the wishful thinkers ready to plunge into crowds without a mask. All of us do.

Maybe a vaccine will free us. We're counting on a vaccine to free us.

We're prepped in our heads to embrace pandemic watch through the end of 2020. But if we don't reach the other side by 2021, then what?

How much abnormality can we take?

That, apparently, is the measure of today's generation. Do we have the discipline to await the return to normal?

When it comes down to it, it's really a matter of strength. Do we have the strength?

Meanwhile, abnormal lies all around us, and it's not just the pandemic and it's not just this year.

Somehow, the politics of the far right has become the politics of the right. And the politics of the far left has become the politics of the left.

Won't anybody make the case for the center?

Won't anybody show some passion for common sense?

Won't anybody strive to bring us together?

Somehow, expertise has become a shortcoming. Somehow, repetitive lies have become reality. Somehow, human failings have become intolerable, no matter the age, no matter the scope.

We have to watch every word we say. It's hard to have a constructive conversation when one slip of the tongue could lead to ruin.

We don't merely disagree with each other. We don't productively debate. Instead, we insult. Instead, we assign motives, on no more evidence than our assumptions.

We demonize instead of argue.

We don't listen. We don't offer respect. And we don't concede we could be wrong.

This is not healthy.

This is not normal.

Or at least it shouldn't be.

It is what is normal today. But it shouldn't be the normal for tomorrow.

How do we change that?

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August 2, 2020

The (Champaign) News-Gazette

The virus still has everyone on defense

The coronavirus pandemic not only isn't going away, it's getting worse in states that took aggressive steps to stifle it as well as those that didn't.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker put more distasteful icing on the cake this past week when he acknowledged that progress can be 'œfleeting'ť and that 'œright now, things are not headed in the right direction.'ť

The uncertainty generated by the pandemic is reflected in the various plans for public school openings later this month as well as the Illinois High School Association's unprecedented restrictions on sports for the 2020-21 school year.

IHSA board members reluctantly announced scheduling changes that will require 'œplaying all sports over the course of truncated fall, winter, spring and summer seasons.'ť

'œAs a result, several team sports will shift to new seasons, including football, boys' soccer and girls' volleyball moving from the fall to the spring. ... IHSA boys' and girls' golf, girls' tennis, cross country, and girls' swimming and diving will remain as fall sports, and can proceed to start on Aug. 10 as scheduled,'ť the IHSA board announced.

But even the fall sports that are allowed to continue will begin with, per Pritzker guidelines, 'œcompetition limited to conference opponents and other schools in the same general geographical area.'ť

It's impossible to make everyone happy, but the pandemic makes clear that it is certainly possible to make everyone unhappy.

Misery may, generally speaking, love company. But in this case, misery is just making everyone miserable.

And for how long? Things may get better, as Pritzker hopes they will, but could get worse as well. No one can say, with confidence and credibility, what lies ahead.

Meanwhile, the numbers of infections and deaths just keep rising.

As of Thursday, Illinois had 176,363 infections, a rate of 1,391 per 100,000 population. Deaths were at 7,564, a rate of 60.4 per 100,000.

Compare No. 5-in-population Illinois to No. 1 California. The latter has had 484,913 infections, a rate of 1,227 per 100,000, and 8,908 deaths, a rate of 22 per 100,000.

Now compare those numbers to New Jersey, whose population of 8.8 million makes it No. 11 among the states. It has had 180,600 infections, a rate of 2,033 per 100,000, and 15,798 deaths, a rate of 178.2 per 100,000.

With less population, New Jersey has had more infections than Illinois and a death rate three times that of Illinois and six times that of California.

From all appearances, the governor of New Jersey has zealously supported efforts to limit the virus's spread, just as Pritzker has here. So what's the problem in getting the desired results?

There's plenty of speculation - and finger-pointing - surrounding that issue, but no solid answers. If there were, circumstances would not be where they are.

For now and the immediate future, there's no alternative to exercising caution, as best it can be determined. Unfortunately, the pandemic represents a marathon, not a sprint.