Seven restaurants in St. Clair County have faced recent aggressive actions from the local health department and more actions are coming soon. It’s a new approach to shutting down indoor dining.

Restaurants defying indoor dining orders did not think Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s order was enforceable. Then the St. Clair County Health Department started stripping businesses of their food licenses.

“You have a very small segment of county health departments, and it’s 6 or 7 out of the 102 at this point, St. Clair County being one of them, that’s saying, ‘Well, we’re not closing or making your business off limits to the public, we’re just gonna suspend your food license,’” said attorney Tom DeVore.

This November, voters failed to ratify an amendment to the Illinois constitution that would have permitted replacing the state’s existing flat-rate income tax with a graduated structure. That, in turn, killed the “fair tax” legislation, which was designed to raise around $3.6 billion in new, annual revenue (during a normal economy), by imposing higher income tax rates on the wealthiest three percent in Illinois, while reducing the income taxes paid by the bottom 97 percent of the state’s earners.

With federal health officials moving closer to approving a COVID-19 vaccine, on Tuesday Governor Pritzker urged people not to fear getting vaccinated.

“Long before any of these vaccine candidates come close to any humans, they are treated repeatedly in laboratories and on animals,” Gov. Pritzker said.

To put a face on the human research, Pritzker introduced Bonnie Blue, one of the first participants in the Moderna vaccine trial.

Two Republican state lawmakers hope to tweak Illinois’ rules for recalling public officials. Currently, state law only applies to recalling the governor. However, they feel all elected officials should fall into that category.

Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) and Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) feel residents should have the power to remove corrupt elected officials.

They’re currently drafting three constitutional amendments that would give residents the ability to recall statewide officeholders like the Governor, Lt. Governor, and Attorney General among others. It would also allow for the removal of the Speaker of the House, Senate President, and Auditor General. Another amendment could allow constituents to recall state lawmakers.

Two Republican members of the Illinois General Assembly want to allow elected officials to be recalled — a move they say would help fight corruption in the state.

State Sen. Jason Barickman, R- Bloomington, and Rep. Mark Batinick, R- Plainfield, are proposing three changes to the Illinois Constitution.

They said the decision to propose this legislation is a direct result of the implications against Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan.