Eight months into an unprecedented public health crisis and accompanying economic downturn, much of the nation has slowly but surely been adding jobs and lowering unemployment.

Yet Illinois just last week saw the largest increase in the number of unemployment claims of any state in the nation. Illinois’ employment picture deteriorated as other states saw their labor markets improve.

Lawyers suing scandal-scarred Commonwealth Edison on behalf of the power company’s customers are accusing a consumer-advocacy group of serving as “ComEd’s lapdog,” court records show.

But the Citizens Utility Board says that is not fair — and CUB has now taken legal action itself to try to win back money for the roughly 4 million homes and businesses served by ComEd across northern Illinois.

An obscure but crucial figure in the feds’ years-long investigation of public corruption in Illinois pleaded guilty to an unrelated fraud scheme Friday, six years after he secretly recorded House Speaker Michael Madigan with hopes of future leniency from a judge.

See Y. Wong admitted he scammed a bank and pleaded guilty by video to wire fraud. He did so four months after a federal subpoena sent to Madigan’s office indicated Wong’s undercover work could still be relevant to the probe roiling state politics.

The longer a shutdown of a sector of the state’s economy because of COVID-19 mitigation orders, the more significant the overall economic loss, especially if its’ prolonged for six months.

It’s compounded even more for border communities.

The person who cuts your hair needs a state license to clip shaggy bangs and trim overgrown sideburns. Same with the plumber who fixes your leaky faucet. Your doctor, your lawyer, your kids’ teachers, even your exterminator … they all need a license from the state of Illinois to do their jobs.

Who doesn’t? The person with a gun, a badge and the authority to put you in handcuffs.

The brother of former Harvey Mayor Eric Kellogg was sentenced Friday to nine months in federal prison, one of three Kellogg family members targeted in a corruption investigation of the scandal-plagued south suburban government that Kellogg ran for 16 years.

Derrick Muhammad, a former Harvey police supervisor, pleaded guilty in a federal courtroom in Chicago to obstruction of justice, admitting he covered up a felon’s possession of a stolen Uzi submachine gun.

Since legal sales began in January, Illinois’ adult-use cannabis stores have sold more than $500 million worth of the drug, and sales continue to increase despite the pandemic.

While restaurants and bars across the state experience continued losses because of more COVID-19 mitigation orders, Illinois’ 73 adult-use cannabis stores sold more than $75.2 million of pot in October.

People who are having trouble paying their rent amid the COVID-19 pandemic won another month of protection from being evicted today, but Gov. J.B. Pritzker added a couple of strings.

In an announcement at his daily COVID briefing, Pritzker said he’s extending the current eviction moratorium for another 30 days, but from now on it will apply only to individuals who earn no more than $99,000 a year, or $198,000 in the case of a couple.