Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Crain's Chicago Business: Pritzker: 'We seem to have come off the peak'
The statewide positivity rate, which hit a high of 23 percent in late April, is now averaging 9.2 percent for the last seven days, Pritzker said at today’s COVID briefing, and COVID-related hospitalizations are at a six-week low, with 1,200 fewer beds in use by COVID patients over that span. Hospital and ICU bed availability is still over 30 percent. While 780 people died in the week ended May 16, it was the first week to see a decrease in fatalities since the COVID crisis began in Illinois. See the charts below for the latest city and state figures.
State Journal-Register: Springfield restaurant issued cease-and-desist order
The Springfield Police Department has issued a cease-and-desist notice to a local restaurant that opened for dine-in service in defiance of Gov. JB Pritzker’s stay-at-home order.
Fox Run Restaurant and Lounge, located just north of Scheels in the Legacy Pointe development, opened its dining room and outdoor patio on Friday.
The Center Square: Downstate business group sues Pritzker over stay-at-home order
The Edwardsville-Glen Carbon Chamber of Commerce has filed suit against Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker over his extended stay-at-home orders.
In a Madison County Circuit Court filing on Tuesday, attorney Thomas DeVore argued for a definitive determination by the courts that the governor’s actions exceeded statutory authority and for the courts to clarify the rights and interests of all involved.
Journal Star: As state’s phase 3 looms, some decisions have yet to be made
Under Governor JB Pritzker’s Restore Illinois plan, live music is OK in phase 3, but in Peoria’s plan it isn’t.
So who wins?
“What we’re saying is you can follow the state’s guidelines, but we’re discouraging it,” said Peoria City Manager Patrick Urich during Tuesday’s Peoria City/County Health Department’s COVID-19 press conference.
Belleville News-Democrat: Business owners say they may close if coronavirus measures continue, SIU survey finds
Some southern Illinois business owners believe they may be at risk of permanent closure within months if “disruption” from the coronavirus pandemic continues, according to a Southern Illinois University Carbondale survey.
The SIU survey on how the coronavirus is affecting local economies received responses from 224 business owners largely in Franklin, Jackson, Jefferson, Perry and Williamson counties.
State Journal-Register: Illinois driver services facilities to reopen in June
Secretary of State offices will begin reopening June 1 with an initial focus on drivers who couldn’t get the services they needed during the last 2½ months during various stay-at-home orders.
Chicago Sun-Times: Chicago casino should be just one piece of a much larger entertainment complex, mayor says
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday she envisions a Chicago casino as a piece of a much larger entertainment complex, but shed no new light on where it would go or when it would happen.
“I see this as a large entertainment district — not just the box of a casino. In order for us to maximize this once-in-a-generation opportunity that the General Assembly has given us and to maximize the opportunity for revenue, for jobs, for long-term economic viability of the city and, of course, to address our pension debt, we‘ve got to be thoughtful and intentional about what we’re designing so it’s something that attracts people from all over the world,” Lightfoot said.
Chicago Sun-Times: Return to sender? Preckwinkle vetoes plan to give first responders COVID-19 addresses: ‘This didn’t make any sense’
Just days after rare defiance from the Cook County Board, Toni Preckwinkle on Tuesday issued her first veto in ten years as board president, nixing a resolution that would provide the addresses of COVID-19 positive patients to first responders in suburban Cook County.
The Hyde Park Democrat said she never expected the resolution to pass and decided over the weekend to veto it. Its impact on the county’s black and brown communities — as well as warnings from public health officials — drove her decision.
Chicago Sun-Times: Pritzker ready to toast ‘cocktails-to-go’ — but Lightfoot wants a chaser
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday said he’ll sign legislation that will legalize “cocktails-to-go” to aid ailing business owners during the pandemic.
What that will look like in Chicago — a hotspot for COIVD-19 — and when that may happen remains unclear.
Crain's Chicago Business: Chicago loses one of its biggest conventions
The Oak Brook-based Radiological Society of North America announced the move today for its Nov. 29-Dec. 4 RSNA 2020 annual meeting, scrapping an in-person event that was slated to bring more than 52,000 attendees to the Near South Side venue.