It has been largely in rural, conservative areas where residents have chafed under a perception that Pritzker’s regulations are motivated by Chicago’s efforts to control the spread of the virus.

If the Illinois Supreme Court agrees, it would take over from the fifth appellate district, which has not yet held a hearing in Xenia Republican Rep. Darren Bailey’s lawsuit. Of the 203 similar requests made to the highest court since 1995, only 22 were allowed by the justices, according to a spokesperson for the court.

State Rep. Brad Halbrook, R-Shelbyville, said hospitals in his rural district are already hemorrhaging jobs due to a lack of elective procedures. He says they need to open sooner than May 11. And national polling found 4 percent of dental practices won’t be able to sustain their practice with the shutdown through April; The number jumps to 18 percent if there’s a June end date.

The number of unemployment claims is expected by economists to spike next month, when thousands of contract, self-employed, part-time and gig workers are able to apply for benefits.

According to Governor Pritzker’s office, he has only taken clemency actions on 20 requests since March 1. The vast majority of the list have completed or were near the end of their sentences. Roughly 900 were within 180 days of the end of their sentence, were nonviolent offenders and were given some kind of credit for good behavior. Some even may have passed away, according to the governor’s office.

Illinois now has confirmed cases of the virus in 97 counties, and a total of 2,355 deaths.

The budget was not balanced, and Illinois has not balanced a budget for nearly two decades. Pretending Illinois had no issues before COVID-19 won’t help it recover.

A small city of beds proposed for McCormick Place in Chicago — the nation’s largest convention center — has been dramatically reduced. Beds hastily installed at three closed hospitals in suburban Chicago remain on standby, while renovation of a former hospital in Springfield has yet to begin. It’s a bright spot in the monthslong pandemic.

Comment: Props to the Illinois Comptroller for getting it completed timely this year. It is for the year that ended 6/30/19, so it won’t tell us anything about COVID impact, but we will be taking a look and reporting on anything notable.

Lawmakers are talking virtually, however, in “working groups” that, unlike legislative committees, are not open to the public. While Pritzker has regularly held conference calls with legislators, Republicans say there is no opportunity for back-and-forth, or to ask the governor questions.

On March 31, Lena police Chief Craig Beintema, who is one of the co-defendants with Pritzker, delivered to the pastor a cease-and-desist order insisting on the Beloved Church’s compliance with the stay-at-home order, according to the lawsuit. The church says it hopes to resume public worship on Sunday without fear of arrest.

Note that this is in federal court.

Google announced it will use its massive collection of mobile location data to measure how closely people across the globe are following government directives to remain at home.

More than 700 applications have been submitted for the 75 licenses, many of them seeking to be qualified as so-called “social equity” applicants who would qualify for lower fees and for business loans to help get their businesses off the ground.

Gov. JB Pritzker said the state will have to go back to the beginning of the crisis to research and count people who likely died of COVID-19 but haven’t been included in the state’s count of victims.

Comment: Hinz says here that we at Wirepoints want to throw grandma under the bus in this crisis and that we believe in some twisted version of survival of the fittest. Maybe a teaching moment is at hand to explain basic economics to Hinz and others who don’t understand that poverty, recessions and depressions kill, too — potentially more than the virus — and yes, we face a potential depression if we don’t balance rationally. For a start on that education, see our article linked here.

As the death toll climbs, the nursing home industry is asking states for immunity from lawsuits for owners and employees of the nation’s 15,600 facilities. In Illinois and Arizona, the governors signed executive orders that do not specifically list nursing homes but do immunize health care providers broadly. The Illinois order, for example, refers to “health-care facilities.”

Citing constitutional issues, Woodford County State’s Attorney says he will not prosecute violations of Gov. JB Pritzker’s extended stay-at-home order.

Further, he says Woodford County businesses of any type — even those deemed “nonessential” by the order — may open their doors, and customers are free to patronize them. Likewise, churches and their member can make similar decisions.

Assistant attorney general Thomas Verticchio said there are “no limitations in the act regarding the governor’s ability to declare multiple and successive disasters,” that Pritzker is essentially free to shut the state down in perpetuity.

For some college officials, separating students safely in a classroom is the easiest part. They have greater concerns about dorms, dining halls and other public spaces like athletic stadiums, student unions and public bathrooms.