Capitol News Illinois

Masks will be required at all Illinois long-term care facilities, day cares and Pre-K-12 schools, Gov. JB Pritzker announced Wednesday amid a nationwide surge of COVID-19.

Hospitalizations for COVID-19 jumped by more than 13 percent from Sunday to Monday night while intensive care bed usage jumped 15 percent as the delta variant of the virus continued to cause a surge nationwide.

Gov. JB Pritzker signed four bills into law Monday aimed at protecting the state’s immigrant and refugee populations, saying they will help make Illinois “the most welcoming state in the United States” for immigrants.

Within five miles of the scene of a 2019 workplace mass shooting that left six people dead and five law enforcement officers injured, Gov. JB Pritzker signed a wide-ranging bill reforming the state’s gun laws Monday at the Aurora Police Department.

Attorneys for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or MALDEF, have filed an amended complaint in federal court in a lawsuit that seeks to block a newly-enacted legislative redistricting plan from going into effect.

Gov. JB Pritzker on Thursday signed a measure aimed at increasing affordable housing investment in Illinois, as well as a measure expanding the state’s low-income energy assistance program.

Masks will be required at driver’s license facilities in Illinois starting Monday, Secretary of State Jesse White announced Wednesday, and Gov. JB Pritzker said he is “looking at all the possible mitigations” amid another surge of COVID-19 infections.

Students with special needs will be able to finish their last year of high school regardless of when their birthday falls on the calendar, while those who lost a year or more of in-person schooling due to the pandemic and have since aged out of special education eligibility will be given another year to complete their schooling.

Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill into law Tuesday that repeals criminal penalties for people who transmit HIV to others.

The state will have new COVID-19 guidance on face coverings after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance Tuesday to reflect that even individuals vaccinated against COVID-19 should wear masks while indoors in areas of the country where the virus is surging.