“For an employer wanting to get back to normal business, this could be the third crisis facing the nation,” said Todd Maisch, head of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce. “The first being the health crisis, the second being the economic crisis, the third being years of a liability crisis.”

Cicero is asking the courts to transfer City View residents to the alternative care facility at McCormick Place and other hospitals to ensure they receive proper care and end the spread of the virus at that location.

The operation will begin with a slow rollout, but Pritzker said that at its peak, there could be about 30 workers per 100,000 Illinois residents – a total of more than 3,800. The governor estimated the cost could reach $80 million.

Undated and marked “draft,” a document titled “IDPH Guidance for Preventing the Spread of COVID-19; Illinois General Assembly Returning to Session,” suggests limiting the number of people entering the Capitol to “state employees directly supporting session, which means excluding lobbyist (sic) and the public.” Other recommendations are to limit the number of people entering the statehouse and to require temperature checks upon entry.

Two-thirds think the state is at least a month away from reopening its business economy.

A reprint of our Wirepoints article.

The loss of food and beverage taxes from Ravinia will be a significant jolt to Highland Park’s $86 million budget. But Highland Park has had one of the highest COVID-19 infection rates in Lake County, and its mayor has been publicly critical of people flouting the state’s stay-at-home order and social distancing guidelines.

Contact tracing is the tracing of the social movements of someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 so officials can alert people who came in contact. It lets people know before their symptoms start that they might have the virus. State officials hope that tracing will reduce cases and move Illinois closer to lifting societal restrictions like the stay-at-home order.

As of Thursday, there were 4,900 people hospitalized with COVID-19. Of those, 1,263 people were in the intensive care unit. Seven hundred seventy-seven were on ventilators. The vast majority of cases and deaths have been in Cook County and the collar counties in northern Illinois.

“When WalletHub looked at how much money each state receives from the federal government compared with how much it pays in federal taxes, South Carolina was the runaway winner, getting back $7.87 for every dollar they put in. Illinois gets back less than a dollar…Illinois is one of 14 “donor” states that contribute more money to the federal government than the federal government contributes to us.”

Unlike others, Macon County Clerk Josh Tanner is not directly challenging the governor’s order. Rather, he is simply assuming it is illegal and unconstitutional, for the purposes of defending against a lawsuit over whether a marijuana referendum can land on the ballot this fall.

Comment: But not a dime of cost savings in Illinois. Instead, a pay raise for state workers is coming up.

“On April 28, Illinois state Sens. Dan McConchie, R-Hawthorn Woods, and Paul Schimpf, R-Waterloo, released a plan that contemplates a regional approach to phased reopening. Under their plan, Illinois regions could start the first step of reopening when they meet certain criteria for steady or declining hospitalization rates and sufficient regional health system capacity…But the governor has not yet made public any detailed proposal or plan for safely reopening.”

“Illinois has not balanced a state budget in 20 years. Leaders refuse pension reform to reduce the debts driving those deficits. To buy time and keep political backlash to a minimum, they have borrowed money with bookie-like abandon and slashed social services that lack sufficient political clout to keep their doors open. That borrowed money funded the most corrupt government in the nation, with nearly 900 public corruption convictions in Illinois since 2000, close to one per week.”

Some governors never issued stay-at-home orders and many businesses have been allowed to reopen. Some are taking a more gradual approach. And in states where COVID-19 cases remain high, most businesses are still closed.

Some proponents of the governor’s graduated income tax measure suggest there isn’t a mechanism for rescinding the amendment. They’re wrong.

Illinois headed into the COVID-19 pandemic in weaker overall fiscal shape than the previous year as tax revenue fell short of offsetting the state’s obligations.

The state’s net position of governmental activities for fiscal year 2019 eroded by $4 billion, pushing the deficit up to a negative $193.1 billion from $189.1 billion, according to the audit of the state’s comprehensive annual financial results for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2019.

“The Illinois Farm Bureau strongly opposes a progressive state income tax, but the objections are less about money and more about the character and values of Illinois’ 72,000 farmers: Be fair. Work hard. Reap what you sow.”

“Religious organizations and houses of worship are encouraged to use online or drive-in services to protect the health and safety of their congregants,” according to the order. Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh said the language was added to “clarify” that places of worship can meet if they follow social distancing and CDC guidelines.

The health departments in DuPage and Will counties are providing addresses of COVID-19 patients to first responders. In McHenry County, the health department didn’t release names and addresses of COVID-19 patients to police until the sheriff and four police departments filed a lawsuit. And in Cook County, the Northwest Central Dispatch System is suing to get the Department of Public Health to release information on confirmed COVID-19 patients.