Sluggishness, poor compliance with existing rules and little help from state public health officials crippled the response by Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration to a November 2020 COVID-19 outbreak at a northern Illinois veterans home that claimed 36 lives, according to a state audit released Thursday.

The review by Auditor General Frank Mautino contends the Illinois Department of Public Health “did not identify and respond to the seriousness of the outbreak.” For nearly two weeks after the problem was identified Nov. 1 at the LaSalle Veterans Home, IDPH officials failed to visit the site and offered no assistance. LaSalle staff testing for the virus was slow and poorly coordinated, the review said.

Illinois residents could get a check as soon as Monday if they filed a claim in a class action suit against Facebook a couple of years ago.

More than 1.5 million eligible Facebook users in Illinois filed a claim. The payments are part of a settlement over Facebook’s facial tagging feature, which is against Illinois’ “Biometric Information Privacy Act.” Those who successfully filed a claim will receive $397.

For teachers and parents alike, buying school necessities can get expensive. As part of the Illinois state budget that begins July 1, parents, students and teachers will get 10 days to purchase school supplies while paying less in sales taxes. The state’s sales tax is from 6.25% to 1.25% on clothes and school supplies.

Jason Leahy, executive director of the Illinois Principals Association, said the tax holiday will hopefully help out parents as they get their kids ready for another school year.

There is another boost for telehealth services in Illinois, with the goal of closing the gap in healthcare disparities.

In Pullman Sunday, telehealth company MyOwnDoctor announced a new statewide intiative to work with nonprofits and faith-based organizations.

Despite the setbacks coming out of the 2022 legislative session with Democrats’ rubber-stamping JB Pritzker’s agenda on numerous policy fronts, one positive outcome was achieved on a bipartisan basis, thanks to members of the Black Caucus and Latino Caucus who joined with Republicans to save Illinois’ successful school choice program that helps families in communities where public schools are underperforming and too often flat-out failing the needs of our students, by giving them the ability to provide their child with a quality K-12 education at a non-public school.

Enacted in 2017, the Invest in Kids Act Tax Credit Scholarship Program provides need-based scholarships to kids from low-income and working-class families to attend their best-fit school.