News Around Illinois Cover

News Around Illinois – May 27, 2020

Illinois’ COVID-19 Hospitalizations, Infection Rates Drop CHICAGO — Gov. J.B. Pritzker says metrics used to measure the spread of the coronavirus are trending downward as Illinois prepares to further open businesses. Illinois’ rate of positive COVID-19 tests, which hit a high of 23% in April, is roughly 9%. The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations is at…

solar energy

Pandemic Causing Slowdown For Illinois’ Solar Energy Industry

Tony Martin and his wife moved back to their hometown of Teutopolis, Illinois, about a year ago to start a small solar company just as the industry was taking off in the state. “My wife and I had always envisioned moving back to Illinois,” Martin says. “Now that solar came to Illinois, I felt like,…

Lawsuit: Illinois Prisons Are Failing To Protect Inmates From COVID-19
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Lawsuit: Illinois Prisons Are Failing To Protect Inmates From COVID-19

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 7:54 p.m. on May 26 to include comments from the Illinois Department of Corrections.  An amended lawsuit filed against Rob Jeffreys, director of the Illinois Department of Corrections, and Gov. J.B. Pritzker last week claims that the state’s prison system has failed to protect medically vulnerable prisoners from…

Driven By Climate Change, Heavy Precipitation Brings Flood Risk To Illinois

Driven By Climate Change, Heavy Precipitation Brings Flood Risk To Illinois

Last year, Illinois saw record-breaking flooding across most of the state, and this spring’s recent heavy precipitation is causing communities near the Illinois River to prepare for further rises in water levels in the coming days. Floods in Chicago last week and flood risk along the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers are another sign of growing…