Prairie State Wire

Neumer calls public health inspector general's report about LaSalle VA Home deaths ‘tough but fair’

By Benjamin Kibbey | May 20, 2021

Peter Neumer, Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) acting inspector general, appeared before the state Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee to discuss the April 26 report his department created about the COVID-19 outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans' Home last fall.

House committee asks IDPH how 36 deaths at LaSalle VA home despite ‘micromanaging’ other entities

By Benjamin Kibbey | May 19, 2021

After 36 deaths linked to COVID-19 at the LaSalle Veterans' Home last year, state leaders are still trying to figure out what went wrong, and Republicans are questioning whether Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration did everything it should.

The passage of Private Right to Organize Act 'is up in the air'

By Benjamin Kibbey | Apr 12, 2021

Legislation moving through Congress known as the PRO Act worries some independent contractors and freelancers due to its similarities to a California law that has been repeatedly altered to accommodate specific industries.

Illinois schools to get $7 billion over three years to offset COVID-19 impact

By Benjamin Kibbey | Apr 7, 2021

Over the next three years, Illinois plans to distribute $7 billion in additional federal funding across the state’s approximately 4,000 public schools in an effort to offset the negative impacts COVID-19 restrictions have had on education.

Pritzker stay-at-home order followed by state and federal response to crisis

By Benjamin Kibbey | Apr 8, 2020

With the issuing of a stay-at-home order by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, residents are restricted from any travel outside the home except for essential tasks such as acquiring essential supplies, and other changes and adjustments are going into effect, including state and federal financial responses to the crisis.