Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Gov. J.B. Pritzker to extend stay-at-home order, school closings through end of April
Gov. J.B. Pritzker will extend his stay-at-home order through the end of April as part of the state’s effort to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, the governor said on Tuesday.
The new order will run through April 30 and bring Illinois in line with the latest recommendations from the federal government.
Belleville News-Democrat: Illinois and social distancing: Some counties are doing better than others, data show
As the coronavirus continues to spread, Illinois is doing a pretty good job social distancing to flatten the curve, data show.
Human mobility company Unacast uses anonymous data from cellphones to determine the average distance people are traveling during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the average distance they traveled prior to the outbreak. The data is entered into a color-coded map that is updated regularly.
The Center Square: Demand for hospital beds, ventilators in Illinois increase during COVID-19 pandemic
The latest hospital capacity numbers from the Illinois Department of Public Health show the number of beds increasing, but so is the need for those beds.
Illinois public health officials are working to determine not just the number of COVID-19 cases, but also how many people who tested positive have since recovered.
Chicago Sun-Times: County finances to suffer one-two punch as coronavirus patients ‘swamp the health care system’
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said Tuesday that girding for an influx of coronavirus patients will have a “profound impact” on the finances of the health system.
But even as she sounded the alarm, Preckwinkle declined to predict just how bad the financial picture could become for the already challenged County Health System.
The Center Square: Relaxed regulations help truckers deliver medical supplies, other goods across Illinois
Truckers are delivering essential medical equipment to the front lines across Illinois.
Don Schaefer, executive vice president of the Mid-West Truckers Association, said the COVID-19 pandemic has strained the supply chain. However, he said supplies continue to move, especially after the government relaxed weight limits and allowed truckers to get in an extra two hours of driving in a day.
Chicago Sun-Times: No layoffs in city government due to declining revenues and rising costs, Lightfoot says
Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Tuesday ruled out layoffs in city government to accommodate declining revenues and rising costs tied to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We are not expecting to do any layoffs,” the mayor told a news conference hours before Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order was extended for another month.
The Center Square: Pandemic derails Illinois' lobbying reform commission ahead of key deadline
Unable to meet during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Illinois Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reforms missed its deadline to provide recommendations to clean up some questionable practices in Springfield, but a member of the commission said it will get back to business.
The commission, made up of state lawmakers and members appointed by the offices of the Illinois governor, secretary of state and attorney general, was created in the fall amid a wide-ranging federal corruption probe that included allegations of bribery involving lawmakers, lobbyists and business leaders.
Crain's Chicago Business: Gap widens between Chicago, U.S. home value growth
It’s the latest evidence that Chicago’s real estate market was struggling even before COVID-19 threw a wrench into the machinery of the housing market.
Chicago Tribune: City giving hotel space to first responders worried about bringing virus home
The city will provide 274 hotel rooms for Chicago’s paramedics, firefighters and police officers as a respite for those who may have been exposed to people with the coronavirus, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Tuesday.
The rooms will be provided by the Hotel Essex, 800 S. Michigan Ave., the mayor said, speaking at a graduation ceremony for new Chicago Fire Department paramedics.
Crain's Chicago Business: COVID-19 to hit bottom line of county health system
“We are following CDC guidelines and not doing elective surgery, so as a result, we drove down our inpatient census. Normally it’s close to 300. Not doing the elective surgeries, we brought it down” to around 150, Preckwinkle said.
Chicago Sun-Times: Democrats put corruption reform on ice: ‘More time will be necessary to complete our work’
Corruption busting is the latest casualty of the coronavirus in Illinois.
Illinois House Majority Leader Greg Harris, D-Chicago, and state Sen. Elgie Sims, D-Chicago, chairs of the Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reform, said Tuesday that the pandemic has forced them to miss a deadline in their efforts.
Chicago Sun-Times: U. of I. designs prototype for low-cost, easy-to-build ventilator — and offers it free to manufacturers
Engineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have created an easily-manufactured, disposable and portable emergency ventilator they hope can be quickly put into production to help hospitals deal with a surge of COVID-19 patients.
Engineers at the university’s Grainger College of Engineering in collaboration with Carle Health in Urbana worked to create a prototype that has run for more than 75 hours — about 125,000 breathing cycles — and works as well as a commercial model, the school announced.
Chicago Tribune: Delayed weed dispensary openings, curbside pot pickup: Coronavirus is forcing the state’s marijuana industry to adapt
Employees at Illinois marijuana dispensaries worked tirelessly during the first weeks of recreational weed sales, attempting to meet insatiable demand for the newly legal product.
Three weeks ago, everything changed.