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After Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday announced that new coronavirus restrictions will go into effect in the city of Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot called on the governor to reconsider, saying she is concerned that the new mitigations could have dire consequences for already struggling businesses. “I'm not sure that we're reaching the right people with the restrictions that are going to be imposed by the state and that's my concern,” she said. Speaking on PBS’ “NewsHour,” Lightfoot said she was “very concerned” about the new regulations, warning they could have a massive impact on businesses in the city that...

Dear Governor Pritzker, Because of you, restaurants are closing their doors permanently because they cannot survive another shut down. Because of you more homes will be foreclosed. More cars repossessed. More college funds drained. Hopes and dreams lost as we remain powerless in your hands. Because of you, another teen suicide was reported just yesterday because teens literally cannot handle the isolation. Do you know of these suicides? Or do you know and simply choose not to report on these because it doesn’t fit your political agenda? People like you, are why people like me, hate politics. It is never...

It snowed in parts of Cook and DuPage counties Monday, emphasizing how devastating Governor Pritzker's shutdown COVID-19 decrees now expanding to the most-populated Cook County will be for the area's restaurants and bars. In his shutdown orders focused on bars and restaurants, he allows only outside tables, and those until 11:00 PM. While the Rockford area and Chicago suburban DuPage, Kane, Will and Kankakee counties were shut down last Friday, the governor's office calls for these rules to extend to more areas - Regions 4 (Metro East) and 10 (Cook County) starting Wednesday, October 28 at 12:01 am: Bars No...

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — The Winnebago County Health Department has issued closure orders for 13 more locally owned businesses for remaining open or refusing to enforce face covering mandates, in defiance of Gov. JB Pritzker’s latest Region 1 COVID-19 restrictions. The Filling Station in Rockford, Ace Hardware in Roscoe, Spring Garden Restaurant in Loves Park, Opsahl’s Tavern in Rockford, Neli’s Family Restaurant in South Beloit, Casey’s Pub in Loves Park, Potato Shak in Loves Park, Nora’s Place in South Beloit, Firehouse Pub in Roscoe, JJ’s Tavern in South Beloit, Rascal’s Bar and Grill in Loves Park, RBI’s in Rockford, and...

Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin slammed Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker as “a shameless master of personal tax avoidance” Thursday in an email to his Chicago employees that criticized the governor’s push for a graduated-income tax rate amendment. “I am not willing to stand by as, once again, spineless politicians try to sell a trick disguised as a solution. Particularly not from a governor who, having inherited a great deal of wealth, has worked so diligently to avoid paying taxes himself,” Griffin wrote in an email obtained by the Tribune, which was verified by a company spokesman. “Not only does he...

As Illinois smashed another daily record with 4,942 new coronavirus cases reported Thursday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker threw down the gauntlet to suburban bar and restaurant owners threatening to flout his latest restrictions on indoor drinking and dining. The Democratic governor issued his harshest warning yet to potential scofflaws before his indoor dining ban goes into effect Friday in Will, Kankakee, Kane and DuPage counties, where COVID-19 infection rates are soaring to new highs. But some owners say they will still seat customers inside, arguing the latest rollback means a “death sentence” for their businesses after months of struggling to stay...

CHICAGO -- Gov. JB Pritzker said Sunday that President Donald Trump and his allies in Illinois are partly to blame for the coronavirus spike in the state. Pritzker spoke to CNN's "State of the Union" the same day health officials announced 4,245 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 22 additional deaths. "He's modeling bad behavior. He doesn't wear a mask in public. He has rallies where they don't encourage people to wear masks in public," Pritzker said. "But it is the president's allies in our state, all across the state, who are simply saying to people, 'Don't pay any attention...

Billionaire Jennifer Pritzker may have abandoned President Donald Trump for the Democrats, but she’s still siding with the Republicans on her cousin’s coveted graduated income tax proposal. The retired Army National Guard colonel on Tuesday contributed $500,000 to the Coalition to Stop the Proposed Tax Hike Amendment, a group opposed to what Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his supporters prefer to call the “Fair Tax.” -- Her governor cousin has contributed $56.5 million of his personal fortune to back his signature ballot initiative, the constitutional amendment to allow a graduated income tax.

This topic really needs a much more detailed treatment, but I don't have the time. Here is the essence: Judge Amy Coney Barrett concurred in an opinion in August 2020 entitled ILLINOIS REPUBLICAN PARTY v. J. B. PRITZKER, Governor of Illinois, which is here: https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000174-572b-d057-a37d-7fef3ec60000, and which I will call the Pritzker case. In that case Gov. Pritzker's COVID-19 lock-down orders exempted religious activities from some of the lock-down requirements. For reasons I do not understand, the Republican Party of Illinois sued over the exemption given for religious activities. On pages 6-7 of the opinion, it discusses a 1905 United...

Illinois taxpayers, who already have one of the nation’s highest total tax burdens, could see a 20% income tax hike if voters don’t approve of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s “fair tax” constitutional amendment in November. Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton said on a conference call Thursday that the state would have to raise income taxes by $4 billion, more than the income tax amendment would have brought in before the Pritzker administration’s shutdown orders ground the state’s economy to a crawl amid the pandemic. “To adequately address the budget crisis under our current tax system, lawmakers will be forced to consider raising...

Six months after he first issued a disaster proclamation tied to the coronavirus pandemic, followed quickly by a stay-at-home order that shut down businesses and kept people inside for months, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he wouldn’t hesitate to act in similar fashion if COVID-19 cases bloom exponentially this fall. “We were the second state in the United States by a few hours, I think, to put a stay-at-home order in and if we needed to do that, the answer is, it worked," Pritzker told the Tribune in an interview earlier this month about the state’s response to the pandemic at...

Aldermen on Wednesday took up the politically charged idea of asking Gov. J.B. Pritzker to call in the National Guard to patrol violence-plagued Chicago streets. Even if the committee and the full City Council pass the resolution, however, it’s simply a request of Pritzker to declare a state of emergency in Chicago, and he would be hard-pressed to call in the guard without Mayor Lori Lightfoot asking him to do so. Lightfoot has taken a dim view of the idea, and her hand-picked police superintendent, David Brown, testified against it Wednesday. Southwest Side Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th, the Lightfoot critic...

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has repeatedly told residents his administration’s response to COVID-19 has been driven entirely by science and data. But Illinoisans just saw a glaring example of the politics of pandemic, with one area of the state being treated one way for hitting an 8% positive test rate and another area being treated much differently – twice. On Aug. 18 Pritzker imposed new restrictions in the Metro East region as Bond, Clinton, Madison, Monroe, Randolph, St. Clair and Washington counties exceeded an 8% positive test result rate for three days running. Indoor dining and bar service were still...

Riding in trucks and U-Hauls, vandals came to Chicago. They jammed the Magnificent Mile, the city’s most important shopping district. They came prepared with tools to pry open gates and take all the merchandise that they could pack. It was a strike directed at the heart of the city. For months, the state’s attorney, the mayor, and the governor—have failed to condemn criminals or act with necessary force against such violence. They have contributed to a culture of impunity that tolerates mobs and hoodlums. Kim Foxx has already become nationally notorious for refusing to prosecute Jussie Smollett, a provocateur who...

Calling it a “make or break moment” for Chicago, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said that recent increases in coronavirus numbers illustrate the need to take concerted action to keep the city from returning to a place where it is once again a hotspot for the coronavirus. Pritzker, hosting a coronavirus press briefing on Wednesday, was asked about a recent report that indicated that Chicago was one of several major cities that could see a spike in coronavirus cases in coming months if mitigation efforts aren’t undertaken quickly. “You’ve seen me and heard me say that this is a make or break...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WICS/WRSP) — Gov. JB Pritzker’s emergency rules that aim to enforce mandatory masks and social distancing in businesses across the state are now in effect. The new rules were supposed to be approved and voted on by the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) on Tuesday, Aug. 11. A motion to suspend the rules was introduced by Rep. Steven Reick, R-Woodstock, but failed in a vote of 6 to 5. The failure to suspend the rules meant they officially went into effect. The six votes to suspend were all by Republican members of the committee.

A gun on the ground, a body on the street, cops, civilians milling about in confusion. A woman was screaming, sitting in her car, parked outside one of the expensive Oak Street boutiques. “What the (bleep)!” she screamed at no one. “What the (bleep)!!!” And I wondered: Is Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot losing the city? Or has she already lost it? Where are Gov. J.B. Pritzker, and Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and Foxx’s political patron, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, to stand and tell us what they’re doing to help Lightfoot stop the violence? Where’s Illinois Attorney...

Some Illinois statewide officers are sounding the alarm about potential budget cuts amid the COVID-19 pandemic if the federal government doesn't provide additional money to states, but a public finance watchdog said it’s an opportune time for reforms to shore up spending in the state. ... “There certainly will be significant cuts that will have to be made to life safety, to education, to so many things that I care really deeply about,” Pritzker said. “But this is going to be up to Congress. They're the ones who have the ability to help us.”

HEALTH & FITNESS Illinois COVID-19 positivity rates rising in all regions, prompting stern warning from Gov. Pritzker, IDPH By Stacey Baca and Will Jones Wednesday, July 29, 2020 9:56PM Ad Duration00:15 - More Info PlayPlay Current time00:00 Seek 00:00 Duration03:10 Toggle Mute Volume SettingsToggle Fullscreen EMBED <>MORE VIDEOS Positivity rates in Illinois' 11 health regions are ticking up, and Gov. JB Pritzker warned local leaders to take action to stop the spread of infections before stronger restriction CHICAGO (WLS) -- The COVID-19 positivity rate in Illinois and its 11 health regions continues to rise, prompting stern warnings from Governor JB...

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday he is “deeply concerned” about the Illinois High School Association conducting sports activities this fall. The statement came during a question-and-answer session at the Rock Island County Public Health Department and was broadcast by WRMJ in Aledo. According to the governor, the IHSA “has said they’re basically going to get out of the business of this in the fall. That’s what it appears they are saying.” The IHSA board of directors are scheduled to convene Wednesday. It was presumed the board will vote then on whether to conduct or postpone fall sports. The board meeting...