But read this story in conjunction with our own new article on this topic, linked here.

Jennifer Miller, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health Services, said vaccinators are encouraged to check eligibility before administering shots.

Suffering from a long-term structural deficit that won’t be eliminated unless politicians change the tax policy status quo — and raise the revenue needed to sustain spending on core public services.

The Illinois Department of Employment Security defended itself Wednesday over a series of issues that have affected the agency’s ability to provide services to people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Regression analysis reveals that if Illinois had the same level of corruption per capita as the national average during that same period, the state’s poverty rate would have been lower by roughly 0.7 percentage points—that’s nearly 88,000 fewer Illinoisans living under the Census Bureau’s poverty line. The poorest Illinoisans tend to be younger, Black, unmarried with young children and less likely to have a college degree.

“In general, when there is less traffic, there is a temptation to exceed the posted speed limit,” Illinois State Police spokesperson Delila Garcia said in an email. “The Illinois State Police is asking the motoring public to fight the temptation. Slow down and pay attention to the road.”

The fact that Illinois’ economy seems to have done reasonably well during COVID-19 isn’t the same as saying the state government is doing well. It isn’t, the experts note, with the same huge structural deficit and billions in outstanding bills that existed before COVID-19. It will take much more than federal stimulus and a resilient economy to fix that long-term mess.