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CHICAGO (WLS) -- Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced new COVID mitigations Tuesday, including a vaccine requirement for indoor dining at restaurants for patrons and workers. People going out to eat will have to bring in more than just their masks and wallets starting January 3. The city of Chicago will start requiring customers and restaurant workers to also provide proof of vaccination or proof of a negative COVID test. This new mitigation effort is aimed at stemming the spread of the omicron variant, which the CDC now says is responsible for 73% of all new COVID cases. "I think it'll make...

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he won't provide a specific date for when he'll lift the statewide indoor mask mandate in Illinois. Pritzker was asked Tuesday about a possible sunset date for the statewide mandate, but the governor declined. The governors of New York and California have set end dates to their mask mandates. Pritzker said Illinoians will continue to follow the science. "I just want to encourage everyone to keep doing the right thing, we are in Illinois and we are going to keep doing it. Following the science, I might add." Pritzker said. Pritzker said masks help keep people...

class-action lawsuit was filed Dec. 13 by 88 teachers and school staff from across Illinois in opposition to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s COVID-19 school mandates on vaccination, testing and masks. The governor signed an amendment to Illinois’ decades-old Health Care Right of Conscience Act Nov. 8 allowing employers to discipline employees for refusing to comply with COVID-19 rules. The amendment was intended to narrow the law and deny it as a legal argument to groups such as the 88 teachers, but the changes do not take effect until June 1, 2022. The bill and its various proposed amendments spurred opposition by...

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), one of former President Trump’s most vocal Republican critics in Congress, said he sees himself as “the only candidate” capable of defeating Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) in next year's election. “If I ran for governor, I think I’m the only candidate that could win, at least that’s out there now,” Kinzinger said in an interview on Crain’s “A.D. Q&A” podcast.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has declared gun violence in Illinois a public health crisis with an executive order. Officials on Monday unveiled a $250 million investment to implement a public safety plan over the next 3 years, and curtail gun violence around the state. According to data from the 2020 Uniform Crime Report, the crime rate in Illinois was 6.9% higher than the overall national crime rate. There were a total of 1,151 murders committed in Illinois in 2020, up 38% from the previous year. Chicago, a city struggling with high rates of gun violence, was the setting of 774 of...

It’s been more than 20 months since Gov. J.B. Pritzker began managing the state’s response to COVID-19 through executive order and the Democrat-controlled legislature remains hands-off. Pritzker’s first orders, with accompanying emergency declarations, were in March 2020. The orders concerning COVID-19 have evolved since then and range from a stay-at-home order that lasted more than ten weeks, business closures with varying degrees of capacity and threats of sending state police to enforce, school closures, mask mandates and most recently vaccine mandates for a variety of sectors. Lawmakers left the capitol after the end of the veto session Thursday and won’t...

An Illinois mayor is standing against the statewide mask mandate issued earlier this year by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, lifting the requirement and making the measure optional in Elk Grove Village, a suburban community in northern Illinois. “We have to start moving on. We’re as safe as we can be. If you want to wear a mask, wear a mask,” Mayor Craig Johnson announced at a city council meeting, ABC 7 reported. “But it’s time to move on.” Pritzker, a Democrat, announced the statewide mask mandate in late August as he also ordered every eligible student, among other “high-risk settings,” to...

Illinois governor eyes lifting 'certain mask mandates' before holidays © Greg Nash Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) said on Tuesday he is hoping to lift “certain mask mandate” before the holidays if cases decline in the state. “We want to remove the mitigations as we approach the holidays,” Pritzker said at a COVID-19 briefing, The Chicago Tribune reported. “That’s an important marker for us.” “We want to make sure that these numbers keep going down,“ he added.

Multiple major Democratic donors, as well as a political action committee run by John Bolton, have given money to Republican Rep. Liz Cheney's reelection bid as she has positioned herself as the main GOP critic of former President Donald Trump. The development comes as Cheney takes on Trump in her role as a leader of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. She has also faced criticism and rebukes from members of her own party, and she is staring down a Trump-supported primary challenge in next year's midterm elections. Team Cheney, Liz Cheney's joint fundraising...

Illinois reinstituted its statewide mask mandate Monday under the direction of Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker, requiring that even those as young as two mask up in public indoor settings. Pritzker announced the mandate Thursday, requiring individuals to wear masks in certain indoor settings regardless of vaccination status. Indoor areas include public settings such as restaurants, bars, gyms, grocery stores, and residential common areas, as well as public transportation, schools, and healthcare settings.

“Effective Sept. 5, individuals working in these settings who are unable or unwilling to receive their first dose of vaccine will be required to get tested for COVID-19 at least once a week and [Illinois Department of Public health] and [Illinois State Board of Education] may require more frequent testing in certain situations, like in an outbreak.” Beginning Monday, masks will be required in all places for people older than 2 years old “regardless of vaccination status,” the governor said. “Masks work, period,” Pritzker said.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WLS) -- Sources have confirmed to ABC7 Eyewitness News that Gov. JB Pritzker will announce a statewide indoor mask mandate Thursday morning. According to those sources, the mandate will apply to anyone aged 2 or older, regardless of vaccination status, but it's not yet clear when and for how long the decision be in effect.

Last week, Illinois governor J. B. Pritzker announced his bid for reelection in 2022. Pritzker may not be America’s worst governor, but the gap between his performance and what his state needs is immense. Illinois is one of three states losing population, its pensions are among the nation’s most underfunded, and it is rated as one of the worst states for doing business. Yet Pritzker is making all these problems worse by giving away the store to public-sector unions and raising taxes on business. Unions are the mainstay of the Democratic Party in Illinois, and Pritzker’s regime gives them what...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Governor JB Pritzker kicked his re-election bid into full gear Tuesday. He spoke with ABC7 Political Reporter Craig Wall in a one-on-one interview about his record and why he wants another term. "You know, when I ran for governor four years ago, I wanted to tackle the big challenges facing our state, and of course, put Springfield back on the side of working families," Pritzker said. "So I'm running for reelection because there's so much more that we can do to help Illinoisans reach their full potential."

CHICAGO - With the coronavirus resurging in nearby states, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker says he reserves the right to order a new round of shutdowns. But the governor says if it happens, it would look different than what he ordered last year. Pritzker insists Illinois, especially the Chicago area, is still a long way from a new round of shutdowns. If it happens however, Pritzker says it wouldn't be as tilted as it was last year in favor of big box stores, as long as they had a corner devoted to selling groceries.

SPRINGFIELD -- The wide availability of COVID-19 vaccines has changed the state's approach for mitigating the virus' spread statewide and in schools. For school districts, that means suggested rather than required guidance, with an emphasis on local control in imposing mitigations. For the governor's office, that means there are "no plans" to reinstate some of the mitigation measures and economic shutdowns that were commonplace earlier in the pandemic.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced some "big news" on Monday. He's running for re-election. "We’ve been through a lot," Pritzker wrote in a tweet, "and I’ve been so proud to see Illinoisans come together during the toughest of times." Pritzker said he's "excited to fight for the state I love" alongside Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton, "and there’s no limit to what we can do going forward."

Illinois will hold lotteries for residents who have received COVID-19 vaccines, or plan to receive the vaccine, that could net adults as much as $1 million and vaccine-eligible youngsters $150,000 scholarships. In all, the state will award $10 million throughout the summer to vaccinated residents, according to the governor. Anyone already vaccinated is automatically entered in the drawings. [cut] "Getting the shot now is going to help us end this," Pritzker said at a news conference Wednesday. "If you do, you might even hit the jackpot."

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday he will update the state's guidance for people who fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to allow them to shed masks when taking part in outdoor activities, but masks will still be required in large groups outside. “Here's welcome news from CDC: fully vaccinated people can enjoy most outdoor activities without a mask,” Pritzker said on Facebook as he shared a Washington Post report about the guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. President Joe Biden on Tuesday said because of the increased number of COVID-19 vaccines, “the CDC made an important announcement: Starting today,...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WICS/WRSP) — Gov. JB Pritzker’s office hopes Illinois is ready to fully reopen early this summer. The Governor’s Chief of Staff, Ann Caprara, told senators during a budget proposal hearing on Tuesday, April 6, that she hopes Illinois can move into Phase 5 in the beginning of this summer. Phase 5 would be a complete relaxation of all COVID-19 restrictions, such as indoor capacity limits and gathering sizes. Masks are expected to remain.