Mark Konkol: “People who qualify for vaccinations are finding it impossible to get an appointment. The only reason we don’t know how poorly the state has done vaccinating minority populations hit hardest by the coronavirus crisis is because Pritzker’s administration won’t release the data.”

Mark Brown: “That means no using clout. It means no sweetheart assistance from some hospital administrator seeking to curry favor. No help from a lobbyist who knows somebody who knows somebody. And most of all, no direct pipeline to the state’s own supply…That would require following the same advice the government is giving the rest of us…Be patient.”

But there’s now more paperwork involved to lessen the chances of fraudulent claims. The additional verification, a federal requirement, is a move to cut down on rising unemployment fraud, said Kristin Richard, the state agency’s acting director.

Last week, county officials said they restricted eligibility due to limited and inconsistent supply of the vaccine. Spokesman Jeff Wilhite said they believe some people did not answer truthfully in an initial screening question on the online system — “Are you 85 years of age or older, a healthcare worker, or scheduling your second dose?” — and went on to make an appointment.

The three criminal law cases pertain to three separate areas of the state’s criminal code: stalking, regulations for sex offenders in public spaces and obstruction of justice by providing false information.

Previously, most mental health-related bills heard in the Senate would go to the Human Services Committee, but Sen. Laura Fine said that committee was too broad and she wanted to chair one with a more focused approach to mental health.

House Minority Leader Jim Durkin said whether or not the bills get to the floor for full debate in the upcoming legislative session may be dependent on what rules the House adopts under newly seated Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch. “The biggest impediment that we’ve had to reform or at least opening up state government has been removed from state government.”

Illinois electric vehicle owners have to pay $248 in annual registration fees, which is $100 more than what owners of gas-burning vehicles pay. Lawmakers said it was part of the state’s sweeping road improvement legislation.

While overall suicides for the first three quarters of 2020 compared to the prior three-year average are down, there was an increase of 27.7% in the number of suicides in Black people and 6.3% increase in Hispanic populations.

The U.S. Justice Departments press release is linked here.

“While the implementation of Illinois’ recreational pot program has been marred by an ongoing licensing controversy, the high times have largely kept rolling at dispensaries across the state. January sales, released Tuesday, outpaced the $86 million reported in December.”

The taxpayer-funded institution only made one legally binding promise – to not reinstate a provision it removed soon after the suit was filed. That provision required prior approval for students to post and distribute “promotional materials of candidates for non-campus elections.”

“From the outset, vaccination efforts in Illinois and throughout the state have been limited by vaccine supply and sometimes complicated by inconsistent messages regarding allocations,” Dr. Ngozi Ezike said. Illinois is in the bottom six states in terms of the percentage of vaccines

“At the request of members of the General Assembly, any of the 177 state legislators who wish to be inoculated will be allowed to receive their vaccine in phase 1b,” Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh said. “The state of Illinois has urgent and vital business that must be addressed, and we hope that the General Assembly will engage in a robust and productive schedule in coming weeks and months.”

“We need to wait our turn,” said state Republican House Leader Jim Durkin. “And if we have members of the General Assembly who have preexisting conditions, they will have an opportunity to go before most of the public, but we should not leapfrog over anyone in this crisis.”

The dispute between Rick Heidner and Dan Fischer began in November 2018, with what at the time appeared to be a routine merger in Illinois’ video poker business. Since then, potentially damaging evidence against both sides has tumbled out of court papers and into the hands of Gaming Board investigators.

Interest rates are low, sales are up, the price of homes has been steadily increasing over the past year, and housing inventories around the state are low.

“My understanding is the governor is making an announcement today in regards to legislators getting vaccines [ahead of others] which I think is ridiculous when yesterday, in my office I had a transplant recipient who necessarily has to take immunosuppressant drugs and is very vulnerable to COVID-19 but because they’re under 65, there are zero mechanisms, there is no ability, for them to get the vaccine even if their doctor says their life depends on it,” Dan McConchie said.

“In the three years of One Illinois, this is the hardest story to write, because with its publication this website will cease operations.”

Illinois mitigation efforts are restricting occupancy, which takes its toll on one of the industry’s most profitable areas, conventions and business meetings.

It would help if the state offered more information about reopening, even if time frames aren’t set in stone, Jacobson said. “Everything is going day-by-day,” he said. “The confusion it’s placing is mind-numbing.”

The story behind the measure to boost some firefighter pensions—costing city taxpayers $850 million and drawing strong opposition from business—says a lot about how legislating gets done in Springfield.