The Illinois Constitution clearly lays out the rules for withdrawing a constitutional amendment initiated by the General Assembly, requiring only a simple majority vote in the House and Senate to do so.

A spokesperson said many items have seen modest price increases because of increased costs of supplying the products, increased overhead and the cost of new safety features.

“The coming period is likely to require substantial sacrifice from many groups. The perceived legitimacy of public officials’ decisions will require a transparent account of the constraints and reasons for the choices that are made,” the report said.

Just because a hospital has filled all of its normal ICU beds doesn’t necessarily mean it’s out of room. Many hospitals across the state have added additional ICU beds in recent weeks.

“State and local governments have exercised extraordinary authority to deal with the public health emergency. That calls for more transparency, not less. Suspending the FOIA is a hard no.”

His office did not provide information on the commutations Thursday. But Pritzker has commuted the sentences of 17 Illinois prisoners since March 11, including two women convicted in separate Cook County murder cases.

The report emphasizes there will be no easy answers, but suggested that policymakers focus on 5 basic principles: transparency, protection of the vulnerable, economic efficiency, minimizing borrowing for operating purposes and flexibility.

The coronavirus pandemic continues to take a rating toll on Illinois as Moody’s Investors Service Thursday revised its outlook to negative from stable.

Pritzker cautioned Illinoisans that the bend is not necessarily downward yet, and said it will still be some time before the state can begin easing restrictions in place to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Some business owners are worried their businesses won’t survive the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some pastors said it was important not to bring congregations together. “This is not an issue of separation of church and state, it’s a separation of life and death,” said Bishop Henry Phillips of Power of Change Christian Church.

Counties rely mostly on sales and property taxes for their revenue. Both are likely to take a big hit from the economic downturn that’s resulted from the pandemic. Another major concern for local governments is the uncertainty of the municipal bond market.

Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) has delegated members of his leadership team to head bipartisan working groups in 15 key areas.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said recently that the state might not have sufficient funds to handle the surge in claims. It reportedly had $1.4 billion in unemployment funds at the end of January.

“Unfortunately, when it comes to the Department of Corrections and the Pritzker administration, they don’t believe that they need to answer any of the questions,” State Rep. John Cabello said. “We’ve demanded questions be answered on several different issues. And they pretty much just tell us, ‘We know best. Don’t worry.”

University of Illinois Springfield Sociology Lecturer Tiffani Saunders said said removing hand shakes would affect traditional ways of doing things, from business deals to showing sportsmanship at the end of a sporting event.

Illinois now edges out New Jersey for having the very highest property tax rates.

In Illinois, the state’s 12 public universities estimate suffering an initial loss of $224 million ― a figure expected to grow for the remainder of the crisis. For the three campuses in the University of Illinois System, expenses from refunding room and board for students who left dorms early totaled $37 million.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, at the University of Washington, on Wednesday projected 1,588 Illinoisans would die from the new coronavirus through Aug. 4. The institute also revised its prediction on when the peak of cases might hit, now projecting that for this coming Saturday. A week ago, the model had predicted 3,386 deaths statewide by Aug. 1, with a peak of April 20.

This report ranks communities in Cook, Lake, Will, DuPage and Kane Counties — the only counties that currently report the towns their cases are in — by comparing reported coronavirus cases to a community’s population.

“A government may say what it wishes and select the viewpoints that it wants to express,” Judge Ilana Rovner wrote.