Murphysboro Mayor Will Stephens participated in a 90-minute conference call with President Donald Trump and other federal officials on Wednesday.
During the call, Stephens says Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury Dan Kowalski announced the 12-hundred dollar stimulus checks would start arriving in peoples bank accounts on April 15.
The mayor says he was told the 60 million Americans that received tax refunds last year will be the first to see money deposited in their accounts. Americans living strictly on Social Security who have their S.S. money direct deposited would see money arrive in their accounts at about the same time.
Paper stimulus checks will go out the first week of May.
Americans without a bank account would likely be issued the money in card form at some time in the near future.
Unemployment claims in Illinois jumped nearly 13-percent last week, with just under 201-thousand new claims largely attributable to the spread of COVID-19.
The jump in Illinois, breaking a record set just a week earlier at more than 178-thousand, comes as new claims nationally dipped slightly, according to the Labor Department.
Nationally, new claims totaled 6.6 million, a dip of 3.8% from the previous week. The spread of the virus is the main culprit.
In Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker shut down “non-essential” businesses, starting with bars and restaurants, on March 21, putting tens of thousands of people out of work.
The State of Illinois is beginning a multi-year plan to eventually raise the state's minimum wage to 15-dollars-per-hour by 2025.
Governor J-B Pritzker was asked if raising the minimum wage this summer will hinder efforts to stimulate the economy after the Stay at Home order is hopefully lifted.
"Frankly, it's unrelated to the rise in the minimum wage, which is a very small raise. Each year, it goes up by a little bit and it's a very small raise that's coming in July relative to the entire raise, which will happen over a six-year period."
Illinois' minimum wage is set to go up to $10s an hour in July. It went up to $9.25 this past January.
