Illinois’ loss of life toll surpasses 7,500 as Pritzker warns of a

Health officers on Saturday introduced every other 1,639 other folks have examined sure for COVID-19 in Illinois, the newest four-digit day by day tally as Gov. J.B. Pritzker warns the state is at the precipice of a perilous viral resurgence. The new circumstances have been showed amongst 39,809 checks gained through the Illinois Department of Public Health, retaining the state’s checking out positivity fee during the last week at 3.9%. That quantity has risen from 2.6% over the process a month. Illinois closed out the general two weeks of June averaging about 682 new circumstances in step with day. The state has averaged 1,419 new circumstances in step with day since mid-July, whilst Friday’s general of one,941 used to be

J.B. Pritzker faucets new director of beleaguered Illinois

Kristin Richards has spent 18 years in public carrier, main just about two dozen state companies and dealing for 2 governors and two state Senate presidents. She’ll want to draw on all that have in her newest task, taking on the beleaguered Illinois Department of Employment Security in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic that has left greater than one million Illinoisans unemployed. Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Thursday appointed Richards, leader of team of workers to state Senate President Don Harmon, to the high-pressure publish, pronouncing she is “keenly aware of the economic hardship too many are facing.” In saying Richards’ appointment, Pritzker said “these are not normal times.” “As Illinoisans have faced unimaginable hardship due to the

Gov. Pritzker, please name this guy. His generation may just

Ramesh Raskar has a plan with an affordable likelihood of controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone in Illinois can help in making it occur. But Gov. J.B. Pritzker must make a telephone name first. Raskar, a former Google and Facebook technologist who holds just about 100 patents, heads a crew on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that has evolved a virtual touch tracing app. Called PrivateKit: SafePaths, it’s to be had unfastened from the iPhone and Android app retail outlets. Contact tracing is very important to preventing COVID-19. It’s considered one of what Pritzker calls the “three T’s” – checking out, tracing and remedy. The head of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says we want to

EDITORIAL: JB Pritzker deflects questions on Michael

Gov. J.B. Pritzker usually deflects questions on House Speaker Michael Madigan’s future by saying he desires to let the investigative course of work. But throughout an interview with me to mark his one-year anniversary in workplace, the governor pointed to his response after Sen. Tom Cullerton, D-Villa Park, was indicted, now-former Sen. Martin Sandoval’s, D-Chicago, Statehouse workplace was raided and now-former Rep. Luis Arroyo, D-Chicago, was arrested. In each occasion, he mentioned, he known as on the legislators to step apart or resign. When there’s “clear” proof of focusing on by prison investigators, the governor mentioned, “that’s the point at which folks should step aside.” The questions aren’t new. During the sexual harassment scandals of 2018,

Pritzker again to drafting board after appointing former

Gov. J.B. Pritzker must discover a totally different appointee to a newly fashioned ethics fee after his administration mistakenly appointed a former lobbyist to the submit. Legislators final month handed a decision to create the Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reform to take up the numerous points unearthed by federal investigations into state Rep. Luis Arroyo, state Sen. Tom Cullerton, D-Villa Park, and state Sen. Martin Sandoval, D-Chicago. The governor on Thursday named his 4 appointees to the fee, together with former state Rep. Steven Andersson. Andersson was one among a dozen Republicans who joined Democrats to vote for a funds and revenue tax hike in July 2017 over the objections of former Gov. Bruce

Corruption scandal provides Gov. J.B. Pritzker alternative to

The burgeoning corruption scandal that has unfold from Chicago and the south suburbs to Springfield provides Gov. J.B. Pritzker a uncommon probability to implement ethics reforms that may have been unthinkable in any other case, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel stated Friday. “As somebody once said, and really crystallized it, `Never allow a good crisis to go to waste.’” Emanuel was quoting himself. “I remember the auto industry. We finally in that moment of crisis did things that people had been talking about for 30 or 40 years. … We [now] have a crisis. And now, you’re gonna have to do things that you’ve discussed and thought about before, but for a host of reasons” may by

Gov. J.B. Pritzker faucets specialists on historical past, enterprise,

It’s been plagued with issues for years, however the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum shouldn't be hanging up its hat. Days after Gov. J.B. Pritzker introduced U.S. Transportation Secretary and former Republican congressman Ray LaHood can be overseeing the board of the Springfield library and museum, the governor on Monday introduced the addition of six new board members. Former Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2017 signed an government order making the library and museum a separate state company. The order meant that the museum would not fall underneath the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. And whereas there have been statutes in place concerning the museum’s board, no members had been appointed throughout Rauner’s time period. Pritzker’s