Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Illinois is extending unemployment benefits by 20 weeks. Meanwhile, some gig workers are learning they’ve been overpaid.
Illinois extended jobless benefits another 20 weeks as laid off workers continued to struggle with the claims process, including some who say they have to return funds because they were overpaid.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security, the state agency tasked with handling jobless claims, said the extension was available starting Thursday to people who have gone through 26 weeks of state benefits. Illinois is among 19 states providing 20 weeks of extended benefits, the agency said in a news release.
The Center Square: Another 25,000 Illinoisans file for unemployment benefits amid calls for public hearings
Another 25,000 Illinoisans filed for unemployment benefits last week and with continued problems benefits, some want public hearings to hold the Pritzker administration accountable.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday nearly 25,000 Illinois workers filed for unemployment benefits last week. While that’s around 8,500 fewer than the week before, it’s still more than 1.4 million who have filed for benefits since the beginning of March.
Chicago Sun-Times: Pritzker: ‘Highly experienced money launderers’ behind 120,000-plus fraudulent unemployment claims
A “poorly designed” national program allowed “highly experienced money launderers” to take advantage of “massive holes” to file more than 120,000 fraudulent claims through Illinois’ beleaguered unemployment benefits system during the coronavirus pandemic.
That was the assessment of Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday, who said that most of those instances of fraud — about 107,000 of them — have been committed since May through the state’s federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program for 1099 workers and other independent contractors such as Uber drivers.
Crain's Chicago Business: Head of state's largest pension fund quits after probe
The huge Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System confirmed this afternoon that Executive Director Richard Ingram resigned after the board received results of a review into “performance-based issues” from Chicago law firm King & Spalding, where Fardon is now a partner in the firm’s government investigations practice.
The Center Square: After $86 billion contraction, state's economic momentum stalls
Nearly 25,000 Illinoisans filed for unemployment benefits last week, about 8,500 fewer than the week before, but is the economy on the rebound?
The website WalletHub ranked Illinois fifth in the country for states that have recovered most in the job market since the pandemic began compared to last year.
Belleville News-Democrat: COVID keeps spreading, so some southwest IL cities could fine you for not wearing mask
Leaders in some metro-east communities are discussing the possibility of punishing residents who do not wear face masks as coronavirus spread continues in the region.
Face coverings such as masks have been required in public places in Illinois since May 1. But officials at the local and state levels are now proposing consequences for violating the mask mandate because some people are not complying voluntarily.
Capitol News Illinois: Bailey wants Pritzker to rescind recent executive orders or go to jail
Rep. Darren Bailey asked a downstate judge this week to agree that Gov. JB Pritzker violated a court ruling when he issued three COVID-19-related executive orders in July.
Those orders allowed K-12 schools to hold in-person classes while following public health guidelines, ordered the Department of Corrections to take inmate transfers from county jails at the discretion of the director and reinstated almost 30 previously announced decrees.
Chicago Tribune: Record $926 million flows into controversial Chicago TIF districts, more than a third of city property taxes
Chicago’s controversial special property taxing districts are expected to bring in a record $926 million this year, accounting for more than a third of the city’s haul, according to a report issued Thursday.
That enormous sum, to be collected at a time of plummeting revenue for the city as it grapples with an economic downturn caused by the pandemic, is sure to spur another debate about whether so-called tax increment finance districts are sucking money away from where it’s needed most.
Crain's Chicago Business: Illinois has $300 million to help renters, homeowners catch up on payments
The money, part of the $3.5 billion that Illinois received from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, “will help make people whole who were suddenly hit with income loss or unemployment by the COVID-19 crisis,” said Kristin Faust, executive director of the Illinois Housing Development Authority, which is administering the program.
Chicago Sun-Times: CPD’s overtime budget jumps to $47.1 million in June while murders, shootings skyrocket
The Chicago Police Department spent more than $47.1 million on overtime in June as murders and shootings skyrocketed and demonstrations after the death of George Floyd devolved into looting and mayhem.
June overtime costs, released to the Chicago Sun-Times in response to a Freedom of Information request, nearly doubled the $24.1 million spent during the same period a year ago.
Chicago Tribune: City Colleges faculty and staff threaten to strike if everyone isn’t allowed to work remotely this fall: ‘I can’t risk getting sick’
Faculty and staff at City Colleges of Chicago are threatening to hold their first strike in more than a decade if administrators don’t allow all employees to work from home when fall classes begin in late August.
While most instructors have been approved to teach remotely next semester, about 450 employees, including academic advisers and technological support and clerical staff, were required to return to campuses on Monday, according to unions representing those workers. Employees deemed essential by the community college network have been working in person since May despite the COVID-19 pandemic.