Ted Dabrowski, president for the nonprofit Wirepoints, said the only reason Illinois received the upgrade is the massive $160 billion in federal COVID relief funds across all sectors. “Remember this is borrowed money by the federal government. This is money that the federal government is printing, so it’s not real money either. It will have to be paid back by taxpayers eventually.”

A republication of our Wirepoints column.

There were a total of 196,287 property crimes reported in Illinois in 2020. Adjusting for population, there were 1,559 property crimes for every 100,000 people, the 13th lowest property crime rate among states and lower than the national rate of 1,958 per 100,000 people.

Wirepoints reported that Rep. Dan Ugaste, along with state Sen. Dan McMonchie, introduced bills in response to the Democratic governor’s streak of COVID-19 related executive orders, but the measures haven’t progressed because Republicans hold a super minority in both chambers.

From Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza: “We believe the Sept. 6 deadline was chosen based on an earlier belief the worst of the pandemic would have passed by now. With patients crowding Illinois hospitals and infections swamping the state, that is clearly not the case.”

“After using the possibility of easing the tax burden on homeowners as a selling point in his failed pitch for the graduated income tax, Pritzker hasn’t made the issue a top legislative priority. A legislative task force that was supposed to study the issue and make recommendations devolved into partisan squabbling in late 2019 and never finished its work.”

Policy analyst Janelle Cammenga said Illinois ranked 36th overall in the country, and was hurt by the state’s corporate business tax.

The ruling impacts nearly 10,000 workers at state prisons and juvenile justice centers, who will have to have at least a first dose of the vaccine by January 31st, unless they are granted a religious or medical exemption.

Under Illinois’ new Reimagine Public Safety Act, $50 million in state funds will be split between 10 cities, excluding Chicago, and will go toward community-based efforts to address addiction, mental illness, youth trauma and other underlying causes of firearm violence. Selection was based on per-capita firearm violence from 2016-2020.

A grassroots group of health care workers, the Illinois Medical Professionals Action Collaborative Team, called on the governor Thursday to take a host of steps, including reinstituting indoor capacity limits and deploying more National Guard troops to shore up depleted health care staffing: “Simply put, we can’t keep up. We are drowning and need help immediately.”

The 21st Century After-School Programs will continue virtually during the “adaptive pause,” while athletics will continue in-person unless notified otherwise. “All staff and student-athletes who are not fully vaccinated and are in-person for a portion of time during the adaptive pause MUST PARTICIPATE in weekly Shield testing. Shield testing will only be provided once per week,” the notice states.

This process has changed a lot over the course of the pandemic, with 65 schools and districts being placed on probation since August.