Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 715 new known infections of COVID-19 and 16 additional deaths, bringing state’s total to 7,695 known cases and 157 deaths
The death toll from the new coronavirus in Illinois continues to swell, with state officials on Thursday announcing 16 more deaths and 715 additional known cases. There have now been 157 deaths related to COVID-19 statewide and 7,695 known cases.
Earlier in the day, officials announced a Chicago police officer stricken with COVID-19 had died, making him the first cop in the department to lose their life to the disease.
State Journal-Register: Virus spreads to Logan and Macoupin counties; 157 people dead across statte
The COVID-19 virus continued to spread through central Illinois as Logan and Macoupin counties reported their first cases of the disease.
They were among five counties reporting their first cases, according to the state Department of Public Health. The others are Piatt, Moultrie and Mercer counties. The virus has now been reported in 61 of the state’s 102 counties.
The Center Square: Illinois unemployment filings break last week's record
Unemployment claims once again spiked in Illinois. According to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Labor, 178,133 workers filed for unemployment benefits for the week ending March 28, a 56 percent increase over last week’s record 114,114 filings.
The number of filings continues to climb as employers feel the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
Crain's Chicago Business: City gets 4,500 small-biz loan applications in 24 hours
The city of Chicago got 4,500 loan applications on the first day for its Small Business Resiliency Fund.
“The average amount of loan requested was over $30,000,” says Samir Mayekar, Chicago’s deputy mayor for economic development, totaling $150 million in requests, most from businesses with just five or six employees.
The Center Square: Drug treatment centers in Illinois struggle amid COVID-19 spread
Drug treatment centers and other behavioral health facilities are struggling to continue to serve those who need help as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread in Illinois.
A survey of 147 community-based organizations found that their estimated Medicaid billing to the state had plummeted by $6.3 million at the end of March. The survey also found that their non-Medicaid billing is expected to balloon by about $800,000.
Chicago Sun-Times: County to help small businesses, nonprofits access federal relief funds to weather coronavirus storm
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle on Thursday promised to provide technical help for “mom-and-pop” businesses, nonprofits and community service organizations seeking to get their share of federal funds designed to keep them afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.
The county intends to help small businesses and others tap into as much of the $377 billion appropriated for such aid in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act as possible, Preckwinkle said at a news conference Thursday.
State Journal-Register: March state revenues spared COVID-19 impact
Illinois tax collections were largely spared the impact of the coronavirus in March, but state officials warned that the worst is yet to come.
The General Assembly’s Commission on Government Forecasting said general funds revenues increased by $174 million in March.
Chicago Tribune: Prosecutors in Cook County’s domestic violence court stop accepting complaints from those seeking arrest of alleged abusers. ‘This is truly an aberration.'
Chicago police and domestic violence advocates say they were caught off guard this week when Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announced she was removing prosecutors from the domestic violence courthouse for 14 days after an employee tested positive for the coronavirus.
Except in the most violent cases, prosecutors have stopped accepting criminal complaints from people seeking the arrest of their alleged abusers. Instead, they are being directed to petition in civil court for emergency orders of protection, then return in two weeks for a review by prosecutors.
WBEZ: Some Chicagoans may be facing coronavirus without water at home
An unknown number of Chicago’s most vulnerable residents may be unable to wash their hands at home, a key defense against the mounting spread of the coronavirus, because their water had been shut off by the city due to unpaid bills, WBEZ and The Chicago Reporter have learned.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration acknowledged on Wednesday that they are still working to determine how many people in the city may be without water and what they can do about it.
Chicago Sun-Times: CHA residents get rent reprieve until April 30; Lightfoot urges private landlords to do the same
Chicago Housing Authority tenants will get a reprieve from paying rent through the end of the month, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Wednesday, urging private landlords to do the same during the statewide stay-at-home order.
The mayor issued her plea when asked two difficult questions: What about laid-off tenants who can’t afford to pay rent due Wednesday? And what more can be done to help landlords who need that money to pay property taxes, mortgages and utilities and don’t want their tenants to become homeless?
Chicago Tribune: Chicago anesthesiologist on front lines describes treating COVID-19 patients. ‘It’s difficult to predict who will live and who will die.’
On evenings when Dr. Cory Deburghgraeve reports to work at University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago, he first checks the charts of patients he treated the shift before — people who struggled to breathe after COVID-19 caused their lungs to swell and fill with fluid.
He’s crushed when he finds those he thought would improve aren’t doing well. And they’re not who the public might think would be hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Center Square: Recreational cannabis sales near $36 million in March, state reports
Recreational cannabis sales neared the $36 million mark in March, according to preliminary figures from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.
Statewide adult-use cannabis sales totaled $35,902,543 from the sale of 812,203 products during the month. Illinois residents spent about $27 million on recreational cannabis products while out-of-state residents spent about $8.8 million, according to IDFPR numbers.