The Illinois Department of Employment Security was ill-prepared to handle record numbers of unemployed workers when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, was slow to distribute federal help, exposed Illinoisans' private information, then lefts thousands on hold awaiting answers. Here's the latest.

Illinois was among the nation’s worst for delays in helping gig workers and the self-employed receive pandemic assistance unemployment payments, a federal audit found. Rampant fraud and inadequate reporting was also discovered nationwide.

The Illinois Department of Employment Security had a backlog of 156K calls in February. Now, over a year into the pandemic, its offices remain closed to the public and 43K Illinoisans are still awaiting a call from IDES.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Illinois is close to starting the extra ‘bridge phase’ of mandates he added in March, but over a year into his COVID-19 restrictions it is another barricade to the state’s economy. States with fewer limits are seeing bigger declines in infections.