The record high number of cases can’t be entirely attributed to the large amount of tests conducted, however, because although a high number of tests were reported, the 7-day rolling statewide positivity rate also jumped from 4.6% to 4.9% on Thursday, continuing to rise once again. As of Wednesday night, 1,932 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 388 patients were in the ICU and 147 patients were on ventilators.

The department estimated it will transfer $689 million to the Common School Fund, which is $57 million less than its obligation and about $42 million less than the previous year.

State Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, D-Oswego, chairs the House State Government Administration Committee. “At this time, out of caution for individuals’ health [because of COVID-19,] I won’t call an in-person meeting. We have been having many meetings with IDES … I think the volume is so great, it has overloaded the system similar to the issues in many other states.”

Business groups oppose the amendment. Labor unions support it. If the amendment is approved by voters, unions could get access to increased funding through public contracts and employment.

There were 36,267 new unemployment claims filed across the state the week of Sept. 28., and 27,384 new unemployment claims across the state during the week of Sept. 7.

“But it shouldn’t be on consumers to have to go above and beyond in order to know what they buy is safe for their families. Shame on Amazon for opposing common-sense legislation to protect consumers and ensure they can hold sellers accountable when they are sold counterfeit and unsafe products.”

“The proposal is a breathtaking example of government officials grasping for a huge expansion of their power to tax…It’s no accident that Secretary of State Jesse White’s office did not include the amendment’s wording on the Nov. 3 ballot, replacing it with a friendly explanation designed to induce support. That’s a tell right there.”

“The cost of that debt eats deeply into state income and services and has left Illinois with America’s lowest credit rating, at just above junk status. Republicans within and outside Illinois love to lay all this on the state’s current Democratic power structure, but in fact it’s an ongoing crisis that has been driven by decades of inadequate pension funding under both parties.”

This week, the Will County majority voted to set up a committee to determine how funds the county acquires via cannabis sales can be channeled towards slave descendants.

Kent Redfield, emeritus professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Springfield, said he isn’t surprised. “Retentions have become contentious and partisan. Now, that was certainly not the intent in terms of the Constitutional Convention back in 1970.”

“Not only does the amendment change the state’s tax structure, it also removes protections from double taxation. The original language of the amendment preserved that protection, but by the time lawmakers produced the final language it made it much easier to impose city taxes.”

“This commission was supposed to be about rebuilding trust in Illinois government. When you’re talking about ethics reform, something that’s supposed to help solve the problems of the opaque backroom deals, you’re talking about a process that’s supposed to address all of that,” said Alisa Kaplan, Executive Director for Reform for Illinois.

It’s unclear if that fraud is linked to this businesswoman’s unemployment fraud case, because she hasn’t heard from IDES in weeks. But many local victims of unemployment fraud have also received reports of credit checks they did not request.

Andy Shaw, former head of the Better Government Association: ” I’ve advised them to ask themselves this question: Do you trust the politicians who control state government to spend the tax windfall wisely after they and their predecessors have turned Illinois government into the worst fiscal train wreck in the country?”

Judge Raylene D. Grischow said she intends to rule within the next two or three weeks, and gave attorneys on both sides until Oct. 23 to submit proposed orders. She said she will use one of the proposals as the basis for the final order.