Gov. Pritzker Announces End of State COVID-19 Disaster Proclamation

CHICAGO — Governor JB Pritzker announced the state’s public health emergency will end on May 11, 2023, aligning the state with the federal government’s decision to end the national public health emergency. Ensuring Illinois’ and the federal government’s health emergencies were linked brought in additional federal funding and expanded healthcare access for residents across the state.

and Medicaid expansion ensured access to telehealth options and the resources Illinoisans needed to stay healthy.

FOSTER, DURBIN, DUCKWORTH INTRODUCE RESOLUTION TO NAME FERMILAB RESEARCH CENTER AFTER RENOWNED PHYSICIST DR. HELEN EDWARDS

Representatives Bill Foster (D-IL-11) and Lauren Underwood (DIL-14), and Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) announced that they introduced a bicameral resolution to rename Fermilab’s Integrated Engineering Research Center (IERC) after the late Dr. Helen Edwards, who worked at Fermilab as a particle physicist for 40 years. The IERC will be home to new office and lab space that will host an intersection of scientific disciplines.

“Over its history, Fermilab’s success has been built by the hard work of committed scientists. Helen Edwards was a scientific and technical leader of Fermilab from its earliest days, and she was a dear friend. Helen was also deeply committed to the accelerator research and engineering that will be carried out in the Integrated Engineering Research Center, and it is altogether fitting that it bears her name. I’m proud to be continuing this effort in the U.S. House to honor her memory,” said Foster.

“Dr. Helen Edwards was an extraordinary scientist who dedicated 40 years of her life to deepening our understanding of particle physics. Her pioneering work on the Tevatron earned her well-deserved national recognition and provided the foundation for the advanced particle physics research conducted by Fermilab scientists today,” said Durbin. “I cannot think of a worthier namesake for Fermilab’s new IERC than Dr. Helen Edwards.”

“Illinois’s own Fermilab is a crown jewel of American innovation at the forefront of cutting-edge science,” Duckworth said. “For years, hundreds of scientists and engineers at Fermilab have dedicated their expertise to scientific discovery and answering some of the world’s most complicated questions, including the late and brilliant Dr. Helen Edwards. Not only is renaming the Integrated Engineering Research Center after her well-deserved, I think it tells generations of girls interested in science that they belong at the table. I’m proud to help reintroduce this resolution with Senator Durbin.”

“Helen Edwards was an inspiring and passionate scientist who was dedicated and instrumental to the development of the Tevatron. I am pleased we can honor her by naming the Integrated Engineering Research Center after someone who embodied the spirit of Fermilab,” said Dr. Lia Merminga, Director of Fermilab.

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“Since COVID-19 first emerged nearly three years ago, my administration has worked diligently alongside the federal government to battle this once-in-a-generation pandemic by following scientific and medical guidance to support frontline workers and save lives. Our state’s disaster proclamation and executive orders enabled us to use every resource at our disposal from building up testing capacity and expanding our healthcare workforce to supporting our vaccine rollout and mutual aid efforts,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Let me be clear: COVID-19 has not disappeared. It is still a real and present danger to people with compromised immune systems—and I urge all Illinoisans to get vaccinated or get their booster shots if they have not done so already.”

After joining 12 other states and the Department of Health and Human Services in declaring a public health emergency at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic on March 9, 2020, the state of Illinois has continued to remain aligned with the federal government to ensure every available resource was utilized in the state’s COVID-19 response. Illinois residents were able to collect additional SNAP benefits, more than 1.4 million children received Pandemic EBT (nutrition) support,

The proclamation formalized emergency procedures by activating the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC), bringing together decision makers from every state agency and the state’s highly qualified mutual aid network to deploy resources as necessary during the public health threat.

Since March of 2020, state and local partners benefitted from a disaster proclamation in the following ways:

• Allowing federal reimbursement for state response costs.

• Allowing use of State Disaster Relief Fund, covering direct state costs and reimbursements to Illinois National Guard and mutual aid groups.

• Allowing use of the state’s mutual aid network, groups of public safety response professionals — including hundreds of health care providers and management professionals, law enforcement officers, fire fighters, emergency medical technicians and disaster response professionals — that are available to deploy to areas of shortage.

• Authorizing the Governor to activate Illinois National Guard reservists, some of whom were doctors and nurses and served on the front lines of the pandemic response.

• Allowing expedited procurement should it be necessary.

• Authorizing additional executive actions as needed to protect public health and safety.

Dr. Edwards was a particle physicist best known for overseeing the design, construction, commissioning, and operation of the Tevatron, a machine that for 25 years served as the most powerful particle collider in the world. The Tevatron was used to find two of three fundamental particles discovered at Fermilab – the top quark in 1995 and the tau neutrino in 2000.

Dr. Edwards’ work on the Tevatron earned her a MacArthur Genius Grant in 1988 and the National Medal of Technology in 1989. The Tevatron remained in use until 2011 when Fermilab moved to new accelerator projects like the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility, which relies heavily on the foundations built by Dr. Edwards. Dr. Edwards passed away in 2016.

HUNTER CELEBRATES $1.8 MILLION IN PRE-APPRENTICESHIP INVESTMENTS

CHICAGO – Several pre-apprenticeship programs in the 3rd District received over $1.8 million in combined investments thanks to the support of State Senator Mattie Hunter.

“I am pleased to see these pre-apprenticeship programs have received the funding they need to further provide training and support services for participants,” said Hunter (D-Chicago). “These investments will pave the way to good-paying jobs for historically underrepresented populations.”

The Illinois Works Pre-Apprenticeship was created to promote diversity, inclusion and use of apprentices in state-funded capital projects. Comprehensive pre-apprenticeship programs help participants gain admission to apprenticeship programs, which provide a greater opportunity to obtain employment in the construction trades and secure long-term employment.

A total of $13 million awarded in the program’s second year will expand access to the program across the state and serve up to 1,400 pre-apprentices — a 40% increase from the program’s inaugural year. Organizations in the 3rd District receiving funds include: Children First Fund, $250,000; EDDR Foundation-Chicago, $500,000; HIRE360, $555,000; and Project Hood Communities Development Corporation, $500,000.

“These programs are key to building a skilled labor force and will not only benefit our community but serve as an investment in our economy as well,” Hunter said. “People interested in the trades can take advantage of pre-apprenticeship opportunities to develop a marketable set of skills.”

Participants of the program attend tuition-free and receive a stipend and other supportive, barrier reduction services to help enter the construction industry. Upon completion of the program, pre-apprentices receive industry aligned certifications to prepare and qualify them to continue to a registered apprenticeship program in one of the trades.

Information on the Illinois Works Pre-Apprenticeship Program can be found here.