Get the latest news from around Illinois.
State Journal-Register: Pritzker: COVID-19 cases won’t peak until mid-June
Gov. JB Pritzker said Monday that the latest modeling data shows the state’s COVID-19 cases won’t peak until mid-June, a month later than initially projected.
The governor said the number of reported COVID-19 cases in Illinois has become more stable, but declines have not been significant.
Capitol News Illinois: Pritzker: Most regions on track to enter Phase 3 in late May
Gov. JB Pritzker said Monday that three of the state’s four regions are on pace to enter the next phase of reopening the state’s economy by the end of May, but he pushed back against suggestions that the state should begin to reopen earlier.
“If we were to lift all of our mitigations entirely at the end of the month, modeling shows that there would be a new surge of COVID-19 and a higher R-naught in each of the four regions, even in the least hard-hit regions of our state,” Pritzker said during his daily COVID-19 briefing in Chicago.
Crain's Chicago Business: Property tax reprieve picks up Springfield steam
Asked at his daily coronavirus briefing if he still believes it would be a bad idea for the Legislature to delay payments or suspend penalties and interest for late payments, Pritzker suggested his views have changed.
Chicago Tribune: 2.3 million more Illinois jobs at risk: The devastating economic toll of the virus in 6 charts
Illinois is facing an unemployment crisis unlike any seen since the Great Depression, as the new coronavirus ravages the economy and puts people out of work.
The situation may get worse.
Chicago Sun-Times: Don’t worry about getting stuck with expired license plate sticker, officials say
Just because the state facilities that handle Illinois drivers’ licenses and emissions testing are closed, drivers are being told not worry if their license plate registration sticker is set to expire.
Once the Illinois Secretary of State’s Driver Services facilities do reopen, residents will have 90 days to renew their expired vehicle registrations. Also put on hold is the requirement for drivers in the Chicago and Metro East regions to get their vehicles’ emissions tested before they renew their registrations.
The Center Square: More restaurants sue governor as industry warns Pritzker about state's reopening plan
Poopy’s Pub and Grub is the latest addition to the growing list of businesses and organization’s challenging Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home orders in court.
Other restaurateurs across the state say the governor’s five-phase reopening plan will lead to permanent closures.
Northwest Herald: McHenry County Sheriff's Office won't make boating restriction an 'enforcement priority'
The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office has no plans to enforce a two-person boating restriction that Gov. JB Pritzker announced late last month.
At an April 25 COVID-19 briefing, Pritzker told reporters that boaters would be subject to a two-person restriction starting May 1. The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity also issued set guidelines which note that boating during the governor’s stay-at-home order is limited to no more than two people – “no exceptions.” The restriction drew some criticism after Pritzker clarified it would apply even to family members who live together, prompting some to question why they could share a home and a car with more than two people, but not a boat.
Rockford Register Star: Winnebago County ‘on track’ with one measure used to track virus for reopening
One of the measures that will help determine whether business can reopen is that fewer than 20% of individuals tested for COVID-19 test positive for the disease.
In Winnebago County, 14.8% have tested positive since testing started earlier in the coronavirus pandemic, said Sandra Martell, the county’s public health administrator. In all, 948 people have tested positive, with 3.7% of the population has been tested, she said Monday at a news conference.
Belleville News-Democrat: Clinton County pub sues over Pritzker’s order to close during coronavirus pandemic BY REBECCA ANZEL CAPITOL NEWS ILLINOIS Read more here: https://www.bnd.com/news/coronavirus/article242663206.html#storylink=cpy
The attorney representing two Republican lawmakers in separate cases challenging Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s emergency powers in the coronavirus pandemic has two new clients, including a restaurateur who owns a Clinton County pub.
Kevin Promenschenkel, who owns Dookie’s Pub & Grub in Clinton County and Poopy’s Pub & Grub in Carroll County, is being represented by Thomas DeVore of Bond County.
Chicago Sun-Times: CPS principal accused of concussing worker faces discipline, district says, as he refers to incident as ‘horseplay’ during ‘a game of dodgeball’
Chicago Public Schools officials have started the disciplinary process against a principal accused of giving a lunchroom worker a concussion, the district confirmed Monday, as a report he filed appeared to downplay the incident as “horseplay” and a “game of dodgeball,” according to records newly obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.
It wasn’t clear what type of punishment could be handed down to Kurt Jones, the principal at Franklin Elementary Fine Arts Center, who was still on the job last week nearly two months after he allegedly threw a water bottle that hit an employee in the head.
Northwest Herald: Board to consider 10% cut
On Monday, McHenry County Board Chairman Jack Franks proposed a resolution to cut the salaries of most elected officials by 10% as the county faces immense losses in revenue because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a news release, Franks, D-Marengo, said it is only fair that elected officials take a pay cut, given the amount of county residents who have had their salaries reduced or who have lost their jobs entirely.