The state of Illinois hopes to complete a review of retail marijuana applications this fall, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said today.

The process of awarding 75 licenses for new cannabis dispensaries already has been delayed by COVID and other challenges. When the state announced that only 21 applicants that achieved perfect scores would be eligible for a lottery to determine who gets the licenses, unsuccessful applicants complained of problems in the process.

Ameren, Commonwealth Edison and other state utilities have agreed to extend a moratorium on residential disconnections until March 31.

The voluntary agreement by the utilities is for a much longer time than a moratorium extension announced earlier this month. At that time, most of the state’s utilities agreed to extend the disconnect moratorium only until the end of September. Ameren and ComEd only agreed to extend it until September 10.

Wisconsin will be added to Chicago’s travel quarantine order this Friday, Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said today.

Eighteen states and Puerto Rico will be covered by the order, which requires travelers from COVID hotspots to self-isolate for two weeks. Montana, Idaho, Minnesota, and Puerto Rico will also be added to the list, while Kentucky and Louisiana will be removed.

With Dorothy Brown deciding not to run for a fifth term, Cook County will have a new circuit court clerk this fall for the first time in 20 years. And legal advocates have some recommendations for whoever wins that seat in November.

A trio of local legal groups — the Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice, the Civic Federation and the Chicago Council of Lawyers — on Tuesday published a report detailing suggestions for Brown’s successor, seeking improvements to operations, technology systems, public access and accountability.

Proposals at the federal level and in Springfield would net the average Illinois parent of a student learning remotely more than $20,000 in cash and tax breaks.

A dozen Illinois House Republicans are backing legislation filed earlier this month would provide parents with a child enrolled in virtual learning $5,500 in tax credits for the extra costs associated with the change, daycare, tablets, school supplies, etc.

A letter from Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White intended to remind voters of their opportunity to vote by mail has sown confusion among thousands who had already done so.

The reminder letters from White’s office to 5.4 million voters began arriving in the mail late last week, and recipients immediately began lighting up the phone lines and email inboxes of local election authorities.

People who store their stuff in self-storage units in Belleville will not have to pay a 5% tax on their rental fees — for now.

That’s because the City Council on Monday decided to postpone a vote on the proposed tax until March.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot warned ComEd’s top executive this week that the city will not renew its utility agreement with the electric company unless she receives a “substantive” plan that details goals for ethics reform, an end to residential disconnections, help with the city’s clean energy goals and other measures.

In a letter sent Tuesday to ComEd CEO Joseph Dominguez, Lightfoot chided the utility for not committing broadly to ending all disconnections during the COVID-19 pandemic and the recession. In July, she called out Dominguez in another letter for the company’s role in a federal corruption probe. ComEd confessed to paying $1.3 million in bribes to associates of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Declaring that an agency that still widely uses carbon paper could use a bit of reform, a trio of Chicago civic groups today unveiled changes they’d like to see the new clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court make after 20-year incumbent Dorothy Brown leaves the post in December.

Included is a top-to-bottom audit, expanded use of e-filing, a final end to patronage hiring, electronic recording of all court sessions and, yes, no more carbon paper, which the report says is still extensively used for key documents, even amid the COVID-19 pandemic.