pritzker: it's disappointing. it is sitting in the courts as you say. our laws are actually really good. they are a great incentive and we have got many people who apply for those licenses. they have been awarded. but the courts are holding up the moving forward. i am excited about the future of the cannabis industry in the state. it is doing well now and will do even better when we have those licenses. we need the courts to -- and let me remind you there are other aspects of that legislation that are equity focused that we have made huge strides in. the first thing i would say is that we have expunged 500,000 arrest records. that is amazing and it is mostly people of color that have been arrested and have something on the record that needed to be taken off. 500,000. and we parted more than 20,000 people so far. for low level cannabis convictions. that means that people who could not rent an apartment before mahood had a conviction, can now rent an apartment. people who couldn't get a job can now get a job. and i think that is right and fair. it is part

the white house confirmed those conversations with pritzker and mayor lori lightfoot to assess their needs. all the while, students have been out of class and parents have been frustrated. lopez is also a parent to two 7-year-old twins and trying to find a balance, especially as she remembers what remote learning was like last year. you walked that line. >> right. trying to juggle watching them and making sure they're engaged in their activities and trying to make sure i'm also teaching my classes is almost like playing a game of russian roulette it feels like. as a parent, i think what could be done better for next time is let's get those parent voices in there. let's get solutions provided that if this is something that may happen in the future, we already have some alternatives in place so that parents feel like they're supported. >> reporter: a spokesperson for chicago public schools says they plan to continue negotiations through the weekend, and in a joint statement with the head of public schools, mayor lori lightfoot says their bargaining negotiations went into the evening to

pritzker here in illinois has been in contact with the white house to try to get more tests to apply to this situation. these were conversations the white house confirmed, saying that they've been in touch with pritzker and chicago mayor lori lightfoot, trying to assess their needs in this. but of course, if they can't come to a solution, the teacher's union says they're prepared to refuse in-person work until january 18th or until these covid numbers go down, wolf. >> hope those kids are back in school on monday. let's see if that happens. omar, thank you very much. let's discuss this and more with dr. lena wen, thanks so much for joining us. if the goal of the biden administration is to regain public trust in the cdc, does there need to be, in your opinion, a change in leadership in order to make that happen? >> no. what they need is a change in process. and there's been so much focus on communication, the communication is not the problem. the policy is the problem. what i would recommend is two things. one is to very clearly explain when a change is being made based on science and

we have pritzker, whitmer, jared polis in colorado. you had cuomo. but what about all of the democratic bench at the gubernatorial level. they did such a great job of handling covid. >> it doesn't look to me and i think you'd agree that we have that deep a bench. while some of those governors have done some things right and had other challenges, i think it's fair to say none of them are ready for national leadership in the way bill clinton was in 1992. so if we have to go back to the '90s or the 2000s and have secretary clinton repositioned and reinvigorated for the 2024 election, so be it. >> laura: doug, last month hillary hit biden and said this. >> it means nothing if we don't have a congress that will get things done and we don't have a white house that we can count on to be sane and sober and stable and productive. >> laura: doug, maybe she is gearing up to take biden out. do you think she's going to do it? trump maybe wants to run again to show everyone what he can do and that he has the answers. hillary never thought she really lost, so maybe

pritzker, for example, the governor of illinois who hasn't seen his own feet in decades, feel fully empowered to lecture the most healthy people in america about how they are not taken the right steps to help their health. you're seeing that happen in the u.s. military. the largest group of healthy people in america. it and get thousands of military service members consume be fired for refusing to take the covid shot which they don't want and say they don't need. hundreds of marines have already began. so the marines and air force say they have granted zero religious exemptions for the vaccines because religious freedom no longer exists under joe biden. service members are fighting back. just hours ago, a judge granted an injunction to a group of navy seals who seek religious exemption. good men in the country needs them of the judge seems to agree with them. he wrote the navy acquires -- by all accounts it is feeder. of course it is. doug mcgregor joins us to assess the effects of all of this on the military and our military readiness. thanks so much for coming on. so where are we with troop

pritzker, for example, the governor of illinois who hasn't seen his own feet in decades, feel fully empowered to lecture the most healthy people in america about how they are not taken the right steps to help their health. you're seeing that happen in the u.s. military. the largest group of healthy people in america.a. it and get thousands of military service members consume be fired for refusing to take the covid shot which they don't want and say they don't need. hundreds of marines have already began. so the marines and air force say they have granted zero religious exemptions for the vaccines because religious freedom no longer exists under joe biden. service members are fighting back. just hours ago, a judge granted an injunction to a group of navy seals who seek religious exemption.st good men in the country needs them of the judge seems to agree with them. he wrote the navy acquires -- by all accounts itth is feeder. of course it is. doug mcgregor joins us to assess the effects of all of this on the military and our militaryas readiness. thanks so much for coming on. so where are we wi

how do you think governor pritzker is addressing those issues? caller: he is doing a great job, i have got to give it to him. i am a republican in illinois but i have decided he is doing a good job. host: specifically how would you describe him doing a great job? caller: he is doing pretty good with the ppd? host: for the acronym, what is that? caller: that is helping out the covid. he is doing whatever he can for the majority of people with covid in our hospitals to be overwhelmed and everything. so far he has been doing pretty good. he is working for the city and for illinois. host: rob in new york city, if i got it right. hello. caller: hey. thank you for c-span. i am going to take a different view on the state and specifically new york city. the governor announced a week ago -- i'm sorry, yesterday that one week ago is when we reached the peak for this omicron and the numbers indicate it is starting to come down. that's good news. new york city has had its share, more than its fair share, of this omicron and the delta virus a year ago. and it

saturday governor pritzker said his office helped secure 350,000 additional tests. and his office confirmed all 350,000 of those were delivered, which may have made a difference in this. but the exact details of the final agreement are kept under wrap as mayor lightfoot said she doesn't want to release the final document until the rank and file members get a chance to look at it. but because of the vote that got us to this point we plan to see teachers in the classroom tuesday and students the day after, wednesday. >>> some parents and teachers, over the safety protocols. teachers pushed for testing and adequate staffing while parents felt they did all they could and wanted their children back in the classroom. >> i am a teacher who's vak and had a breakthrough case of covid and my husband ended up hospitalized. while he survived, it was traumatic to my family and having lived that and asking me to subject my students and their families who are more vulnerable, it feels -- it feels wrong, especially when there are very basic, basic steps we are asking the district f

. >> bret: well, byron, to that point, we should point out that illinois' democratic governor pritzker is missing in action on this issue about the chicago schools and we haven't heard from him. i do want to read this "new york times" newsletter. no way to grow up. it was really well-written and accurate. for the past two years large parts of society have decided harming children was an unavoidable side effect of covid-19. and that was probably true in the spring of 2020 when nearly all of the society shut counsel to slow the spread of a deadly and mysterious virus. but the approach has been less defensible for the past year and a half. severe versions of covid including long covid are extremely rare in children. for them, the virus resembles a typical flu. children face more risk from car rides than covid. byron? >> yeah. that article mentioned the spring. it feels like we have taken a giant step backwards here with teachers unions. cases, you know, cases skyrocketing and teachers unions showing that they are in charge certainly in democratic constituencies and what's come out of the

pritzker announced his office secured 350,000 additional rapid tests for chicago public schools. his office confirmed late monday that all 350,000 of those were delivered, which may have made an impact on this. but details about what ended up being the final deal are still being kept under wraps as mayor lori lightfoot said she doesn't want to release that document until the chicago union's rank and file members vote on this. but in the meantime, the important part, that students will be back in class tomorrow and teachers will be back in class today. laura, christine? >> gosh, having kids out of school so disruptive for families and employers, for companies, for kids. it's -- what a mess. hopefully they get that resolved for good know. >>> meantime, the message in atlanta today, 19 states passed laws making it harder to vote. everything from scrapping drive-thru polling places to empowering partisan poll watchers. it's all building pressure on the white house to do something. jasmine wright joins us from washington this morning with more. some voting rights groups, they want les

the white house confirmed those conversations with pritzker and mayor lightfoot to assess their needs. all the while, students have been out of class, and parents have been frustrated. lopez is also a parent to two 7-year-old twins and trying to find a balance, especially as she remembers what remote learning was like last year. you walked that line. >> right. trying to juggle watching them and making sure they're engaged in their activities and trying to also teach my classes is almost like playing a game of russian roulette it feels like. as a parent, i think what could be done better for next time is let's get those parent voices in there, let's get solutions provided that if this is something that may happen in the future we have alternatives in place so parents feel like they're supported. >> reporter: a spokesperson for chicago public schools says they expect their negotiations to continue through the weekend. and in a joint statement with the head of public schools, mayor lightfoot said their bargaining negotiations friday went into the evening, but that their so far productive

. >> reporter: over the weekend governor pritzker offered the city 350,000 tests but there's no word the city will buy those shield saliva tests the governor arranged those are different than the current nasal test that cps uses. >> what we need is the support of our school nurses, who the union has not allowed to be activated to help on the frontlines with this fight. >> reporter: for the news, i'm mary ann ahern. >>> in new york city broadway is extending its covid rules to keep shows up and running. the broadway league announced today all 41 theaters will keep their masks and vaccine requirements in place at least through april. theaters will also require proof of full vaccination for kids, 5 to 11-year-olds. that rule begins later this month. several of broadway's biggest shows, including "hamilton" and "aladdin" canceled performances over the past month because of covid outbreaks among cast and crew now some shows are adapting and taking creative new steps to help fill empty roles. here's cnbc's leslie picker. >> reporter: 10-year-old corey jay usually plays young simba on "the

governor pritzker told bloomberg news e he asked for testing. what have your conversations with federal authorities been like? and what is, specifically, the issue on testing that could help? >> well, look. we -- we've been in contact with the -- the white house from the very beginning of this. both, to update them and let them know what the conditions were on the ground here, to ask for more testing. the governor and i have had multiple conversations, so we are in a good, i think, place with both our governor and the white house. but fundamentally, anderson, as you know, there is a shortage of testing nation beside. we are going to provide as much testing as we possibly can but recognizing that, right now, across the country there is a shortage of tests. but even working within those constraints, and we put on the table i think a testing regime that will address a lot of the union's concerns. we had, i think, very productive dialogue today around testing and other issues, which is why i'm confident that if there is good will on both sides, we c

governor pritzker told bloomberg news he asked for testing. what have your conversations with federal authorities been like? and what is, specifically, the issue on testing that could help? >> well, look. we -- we've been in contact with the -- the white house from the very beginning of this. both to update them and let them know what the conditions were on the ground here, to ask for more testing. the governor and i have had multiple conversations, so we are in a good, i think, place with both our governor and the white house. but fundamentally, anderson, as you know, there is a shortage of testing nationwide. we are going to provide as much testing as we possibly can but recognizing that, right now, across the country there is a shortage of tests. but even working within those constraints, and we put on the table i think a testing regime that will address a lot of the union's concerns. we had, i think, very productive dialogue today around testing and other issues, which is why i'm confident that if there is good will on both sides, we can g

. >> reporter: and before getting to this point, governor pritzker said his office helped retain and supply at least 350,000 rapid tests and when we heard from members of the union last night, they said that's something they were pleased with, also pleased parents -- >> adrienne, we will jump in and head over to capitol hill, senator rand paul now questioning. >> there is one position in peoria, then the mistakes would only affect that position's patient, physician's patient, the people who chose that physician, but when the planner is a government official, like yourself, who rules by mandate, the errors are compounded, and become much more harmful. a planner who believes he is the science, leads to an arrogance that justifies in his mind using government resources to smear, and to destroy the reputations of other scientists who disagree with him. in an email exchange with dr. collins, you conspire, and i quote here directly from the email, to create a quick and devastating published takedown of three prominent epidemiologists from harvard, oxford and stanford, apparently there is a

how do you think governor pritzker is addressing those issues? caller: he is doing a great job, i have got to give it to him. i am a republican in illinois but i have decided he is doing a good job. host: specifically how would you describe him doing a great job? caller: he is doing pretty good with the ppd? host: for the acronym, what is that? caller: that is helping out the covid. he is doing whatever he can for the majority of people with covid in our hospitals to be overwhelmed and everything. so far he has been doing pretty good. he is working for the city and for illinois. host: rob in new york city, if i got it right. hello. caller: hey. thank you for c-span. i am going to take a different view on the state and specifically new york city. the governor announced a week ago -- i'm sorry, yesterday that one week ago is when we reached the peak for this omicron and the numbers indicate it is starting to come down. that's good news. new york city has had its share, more than its fair share, of this omicron and the delta virus a year ago. and it

it is not billionaires like governor pritzker who will suffer the consequences of his mistakes. other states are still considering and implementing this insane policy. it will inevitably increase crime just as it did in new york. but, these state and local changes are not the only criminal leniency policies adopted in the last few years. in a grave bipartisan mistake progress past the first step act with 87 votes in the u.s. senate. i led the opposition of that bill and i was one of only 12 senators who opposed it. host: let's get back to our phone lines and talk to shane: from lakewood, california -- shane calling from lakewood, california. caller: i was incarcerated in l.a. county for 45 days. it opened my eyes to a lot of things. first, it is really broken. you know, yeah, the gangs do run the jails for the most part. what, there is part between gang leaders and corrections officers. after running -- getting out i was on probation and i found it hard to find a job. one of the things is that on the application you have to check the box that says, are you a felon? when you chec

it is not billionaires like governor pritzker who will suffer the consequences of his mistakes. other states are still considering and implementing this insane policy. it will inevitably increase crime just as it did in new york. but, these state and local changes are not the only criminal leniency policies adopted in the last few years. in a grave bipartisan mistake progress past the first step act with 87 votes in the u.s. senate. i led the opposition of that bill and i was one of only 12 senators who opposed it. host: let's get back to our phone lines and talk to shane: from lakewood, california -- shane calling from lakewood, california. caller: i was incarcerated in l.a. county for 45 days. it opened my eyes to a lot of things. first, it is really broken. you know, yeah, the gangs do run the jails for the most part. what, there is part between gang leaders and corrections officers. after running -- getting out i was on probation and i found it hard to find a job. one of the things is that on the application you have to check the box that says, are you a felon? when you chec