COVID-19 showed everyone the heroes in health care and essential services, but it also exposed weak character or bad behavior of many in Illinois government.

The Illinois Department of Employment Security troubles included scores of unemployed unable to get benefits, nearly 32,500 Social Security numbers exposed and now benefits theft. A simple fix used by many online retailers could have prevented the thefts.

The contractor who revamped Illinois’ unemployment system to handle self-employed workers is being sued. One of the nearly 32,500 applicants who had private information exposed said it was used to access her bank account.