Pritzker says administration sent COVID-19 patients from hospitals back to nursing homes ‘after they recovered’
Gov. J.B. Pritzker couldn’t say how many COVID-19 hospitalized seniors were sent back to long-term care facilities.
The governor said COVID-19 patients were sent from the hospital back to nursing homes after they recovered and were then isolated.
Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski said the nursing home deaths total more than 3,400 and make up more than half of the overall COVID deaths in Illinois.
He said the governor himself should be demanding an investigation.
Another 44,639 people in Illinois seek unemployment benefits
More Illinoisans filed for unemployment last week than the week before.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported 44,639 workers filed for unemployment last week. The week before, there were 44,606 that filed.
More than 1.3 million Illinoisans have field for unemployment since the beginning of March.
Illinois ranks third-worst in racial equity report
Illinois ranked the third worst in the nation for racial equity, according to metrics reviewed by the website Wallethub.
Analysts looked at a variety of metrics comparing differences between white and black Americans and found Illinois among the worst in rates for unemployment, homelessness, labor-force participation, share of executives and poverty.
Congress split on police reform measures
Illinois’ congressional delegation is split on measures filed in congress dealing with police accountability.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said minority Democrats want more input to find common ground with Senate Republicans on their bill.
The Republican minority in the U.S. House said not one of their members was consulted in the Democrat majority’s bill.
The separate measures could be taken up in separate chambers this week.
Restore Illinois commission takes shape
The Restore Illinois Collaborative Commission meant to have state legislators provide input in reviving Illinois’ economy in the wake of COVID-19 is starting to form.
While legislative leaders have yet to release the full list of the 14 members, Springfield Republican state Rep. Mike Murphy announced he’s been appointed.
He said this commission cannot afford to fail as other commissions on other topics have.
Construction activity drops off in Illinois
Illinois had the fourth-worst decline of new residential building permits of all states.
The website Construction Coverage reviewed data and found Illinois had a drop of nearly 60 percent in new construction or nearly $248 million in lost value.
Champaign-Urbana reported a more than 80 percent decline in building activity. The Chicago region had a 54 percent decline.
