An investigative report from the Office of Congressional Ethics released Monday detailed a “substantial reason to believe” that Newman, a Democrat, promised federal employment to a political opponent.

Western Illinois Correctional Center, a medium-security prison in Mt. Sterling, currently reports 600 prisoners infected with COVID – a figure approaching 41% of prisoners. The Illinois statewide test positivity rate for COVID on Monday was 15.2%.

“Quite simply, the defendants are infringing upon the lawful right of the students, and of their parents or guardians, to be free to choose for themselves whether mask wearing as a treatment, or type of modified quarantine, for the purpose of limiting the spread of an infectious disease, is, absent a court order, appropriate,” the lawsuit states

Taylor Anderson, a lobbyist for the Illinois Association of County Board Members, said the recent cancellation of a number of legislative session days could throw a wrench into the effort. “There are only so many hours in the day. There are only so many committee hearings a single legislator can be at at the same time. It is really going to be quite interesting on how this plays out.”

There are 1,650 private schools and over 200 charter and magnet schools in Illinois. Illinois also offers “open enrollment,” which allows parents to send their children to any public school, including charter schools, regardless of where it is located and what neighborhood they live in.

Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski said the unfunded health care liabilities are a real concern for beneficiaries; All of Illinois’ public sector pension funds are $140 billion unfunded and this latest lawsuit highlights additional unfunded taxpayer costs for retiree health care. “It’s a $70 billion shortfall,” he said. “So, it’s back to the same discussion of we need a constitutional amendment to reform all these debts that we have that the taxpayers are going to be on the hook for eventually.”

Among the initiatives Pritzker’s office announced is paid administrative leave for every employee of a public school district, public university, and public community college who is fully vaccinated, or whose child is required to be excluded from school because of a positive COVID-19 test result or close contact; sick leave for every employee of a public school district, public university, and public community college who is fully vaccinated; and wage protections for all hourly school employees, including but not limited to custodial, transportation, food service providers, classroom assistants, or administrative staff.

While Secretary of State offices are reopening with the downturn in the Omicron variant, Illinoisans have no such assurances about reopening the state. Gov. JB Pritzker declared a 22nd consecutive state of emergency for Illinois in January; He has signed more than 100 executive orders into law in that time.

Illinois has the strictest latchkey law of any state. A new bill looks to change the minimum age parents can legally leave their children home alone from 14 to 12.

In terms of the three dimensions used to rank the states, Illinois ranked No. 47 in “Affordability,” No. 23 in “Quality of Life” and No. 21 in “Healthcare.”

“Citing just the number of cases–as I have frequently observed–fails to accurately describe the threat. Yet, the likes of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and others cite the increase Omicron cases as justification for a return to the constraints, confinements and curtailments that erode our democracy.”

The 5.3% December unemployment rate for Illinois remained 1.4 percentage points higher than the national average.

“The case was only the second confirmed instance of COVID-19 in the United States at the time. Since then, 70.2 million Americans have been diagnosed with COVID (the real number is higher because most positive rapid tests are not reported.) More the 862,000 have died, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Both numbers are by far the highest in the world.”

A lot of the House Public Safety and Violence Prevention Committee’s discussion revolved around addressing staffing issues among police departments across the state.

Marie Coobes, a mother of two who works as team manager at the Illinois Childcare Resource Service, said 12 is an arbitrary age.“It really is a gut feeling,” she said. “Does it make you scared to think about leaving that child alone? Can you confidently walk out of the house knowing that the child will respect the boundaries that you set?”

Rep. Ryan Spain said half of Illinois’ counties are experiencing a shortage in sheriff’s departments that he tied to the act. Meanwhile, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has spent $60,000 on a billboard along a Chicago expressway luring Chicago cops to a warmer work environment.

Cities with a population of at least 10,000 individuals are ranked by percent of individuals living below the poverty line in 2019, using data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

“I think like everybody we thought it would be over in a year or something like that, but here we are two years now and still in the throes of it,” said Dr. Michael Handler, chief medical officer at Amita Health St. Alexius Medical Center, where the first case was diagnosed.