Get the latest news headlines from around Illinois.
KHQA: State apologizes to school board member, investigation to close
Dr. Jeremy Henrichs, a Champaign doctor and Mahomet-Seymour school board member is facing an investigation into his medical license after expressing his opposition to the governor’s mask mandate at a school board meeting.
It all started with this email from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) saying that for an official investigation they needed to know whether Dr. Henrichs supports or does not support Governor JB Pritzker’s based on his position as a school board member – not as a medical doctor.
Daily Herald: Pingree Grove ranks fastest growing community over 2,000 in Illinois
The Village of Pingree Grove ranked the fastest growing community with a population over 2,000 in Illinois, according to the 2020 Census data recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau.
KMOV: Illinois school districts switch up learning, mask policies amid COVID-19
Multiple Illinois school districts are already switching learning and safety measures one week into the start of the fall semester.
“It wasn’t a matter of time, if it was a matter of when,” said Bryan Clark, a parent of two students in the Staunton Community Unit School District.
WTVO: New Illinois laws extend legal protections to victims of domestic violence
Domestic violence victims will be eligible for new legal protections after Gov. JB Pritzker signed a series of laws on Friday.
Among them:
Expanding state law to offer economic security and safety to victim’s family members;
Expanding who qualifies as a household or family member;
and the creation of a commission to study deadly cases of domestic violence
NBC Chicago: IDES Reminds Illinoisans Enhanced Federal Unemployment Benefits End Next Month
The Illinois Department of Employment Security publicly reminded residents Friday that federal unemployment programs will come to an end on Sept. 4, 2021.
The state noted that “the expiration of these programs has no impact on the state’s regular unemployment system or the claimants receiving regular unemployment benefits.”
Chicago Tribune: Cook County issues indoor mask mandate as delta surge pushes Illinois COVID-19 cases higher than spring’s third wave
Cook County issued an indoor mask mandate Friday as Illinois marked its highest one-day total in COVID-19 cases since late January.
Illinois reported 4,904 new confirmed and probable coronavirus cases Friday, pushing the seven-day average of new cases above the peak of the spring surge.
WGN: Illinois Democrats to redraw political maps using census
Illinois Democrats said Friday the Legislature will return to Springfield to redraw political districts that will be used for legislative elections over the next decade, this time using data from the 2020 census.
The announcement came as Republicans said census data released last week show the maps that majority Democrats approved and Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed earlier this year amounted to an unconstitutional power grab. Democrats used population estimates, not the actual census, to draw the boundaries — a move that prompted lawsuits from GOP leaders and a leading Latino civil rights organization.
Chicago Tribune: Illinois lawmakers to convene Aug. 31 to make post-census fixes to Democrat-drawn legislative maps
Democratic leaders of the Illinois House and Senate said Friday that they will convene a special session on Aug. 31 to consider updates to state legislative maps, which they drew up earlier this year, based on the more detailed federal census data that was recently released.
Democrats passed their maps over Republican objections at the end of May using population estimates from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey because decennial census data didn’t come out until Aug. 12 instead of the traditional April release date. Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker subsequently signed the maps into law.