(SPRINGFIELD) An industry group says the Biden administration’s new staffing regulations for long-term care facilities are unrealistic. While the mandate requires that all nursing homes that receive Medicare and Medicaid funding provide a total of at least 3.48 hours of nursing care per resident, per day, the nursing homes must also have a registered nurse onsite at all times, around the clock. Research by SeniorLiving.org shows 82%, or nearly 12,000 such facilities in the nation will need to hire additional staff or face being shut down. Officials say Illinois is home to the fifth highest number of understaffed nursing homes in the country. The mandate will be phased in over three years, five years for rural areas.
(SPRINGFIELD) Illinois gun owners continue to await relief from the state’s gun and ammunition magazine ban as the U.S. Supreme Court has again refrained from announcing whether it would take up the legal challenges. Upon those requests for consideration, the nation’s high court back in April put several Illinois challenges into conference with the first possible conference date for a decision being mid-May, however no decision was released. After the Justices held a conference last Thursday to discuss pending requests for the panel to take various cases, yesterday’s newly released “order list” did not include any of Illinois’ gun ban cases. This means the cases could come up again in the Court’s next conference later this week with the next new “order list” due out next Monday (6/17). Meanwhile, in the Southern District of Illinois federal court, litigants continue getting ready for a bench trial date which is set for later this year, on September 16th, 2024.
(SPRINGFIELD) A new report indicates that electric vehicles are more prone to pedestrian incidents that their counterparts. A British Study found that collisions with pedestrians were twice as likely with electric or hybrid vehicles as they were with gas or diesel-powered vehicles, mostly due to the quietness of EV’s. On another note, the report also shows that the farming community has concerns with electric vehicles due to the lack of staying power for agricultural work. There are currently over 100,000 EV’s registered in Illinois.
(SPRINGFIELD) The Illinois State Museum is looking for individuals to share their personal experiences with the original Route 66 in Illinois, including travelers, businesses that operated along the route, workers who help build the highway, and others as Route 66 will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2026. Historians from the Illinois State Museum will record and share oral histories of those who can recall their connections to the historic roadway, which operated in Illinois from 1926 until it was decommissioned in 1985.