As the state prepares to fully reopen for the first time in 15 months on Friday, the governor is giving Illinoisans a pat on the back.

Starting Friday, there will be no capacity restrictions, but businesses can still require masks for unvaccinated people. There are also mask requirements for public transportation, medical facilities, correctional facilities, schools and day care centers.

On Friday, the state will eliminate all capacity limits on businesses, large-scale events, conventions, amusement parks and other venues. Mask requirements for vaccinated and non-vaccinated people continue to align with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Illinois in Focus Ep 141: Partisan politics on display as legislative session ends

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Tim Mapes served for years under former House Speaker Michael Madigan as the clerk of the Illinois House and as Madigan’s chief of staff. Now, Mapes has been indicted on a charge of lying to a grand jury in a federal bribery probe connected to the longtime former speaker.

Last summer, federal prosecutors revealed a deferred prosecution agreement ComEd entered into where the utility admitted to paying associates of Madigan in money and jobs in order to curry favor from the then-speaker. Com-Ed agreed to pay a $200 million fine and cooperate in the investigation.

Four others associated with Madigan, including longtime confidant Michael McClain, and two former ComEd officials, were indicted several months ago and have pleaded not guilty. One former ComEd official, Fidel Marquez, has pleaded guilty in the case.

Wednesday, federal prosecutors released details about the indictment of Mapes.

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Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s emergency rule requiring businesses to mandate masks has been repealed and a leading retailers association says they are not being asked to check your vaccine status, but they could if they wanted.

Retailers must also “communicate with customers through in-store signage, and public service announcements and advertisements, about the social distancing and face-covering requirements,” the order says, but that doesn't impact vaccinated people.

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Illinois is entering another COVID-19 reopening phase that was added by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in March.

Capacity limits on a wide range of businesses and activities will be slightly loosened Friday as the state enters the next to last phase of the governor’s pandemic reopening plan.

Pritzker announced last week that the state would enter the Bridge Phase of his plan, a final step before all restrictions are lifted, as the spread of COVID-19 has slowed and a large percentage of Illinoisans had received at least one dose of a vaccine.

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Pandemic restrictions in Illinois will be further loosened next week, and the state could reopen nearly fully as early as June 11.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Thursday the state will be entering the “Bridge Phase” on May 14, a transitional period between Phase 4 restrictions and fully opening in Phase 5.

Earlier this week, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city is looking to open things up fully by July 4. Lightfoot also announced that the Chicago Auto Show, which was cancelled last year, will be back at McCormick Place July 15 through 19. Attendees will have to register in advance and fill out a health survey, but vaccines won’t be required. Lightfoot said the goal is to have no capacity limits in the city by July 4.

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Illinois will lose one member from the U.S. House of Representatives because of continued population declines.

It was expected Illinois would lose representation, based on year-over-year annual Census estimates showing the state losing an estimated 253,000 residents over the past ten years.

Illinois has lost ten seats in the U.S. House over the past 110 years, according to Census data. In 1910, Illinois had 27 members of the U.S. House. That dropped by one in 1940, another one in 1950, another in 1960 and then two in 1990 with one every ten years since then.

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Illinois lawmakers are poised to make leadership term limits of no more than ten consecutive years state law.

Before he resigned from the House earlier this year, Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, served in the state legislature for more than 50 years. Madigan served as House Speaker for 24 consecutive years from 1997 to 2021. For two years when Republicans had the majority in the House, Madigan was the Minority Leader. Before that, he served as Speaker for 12 years from 1983 to 1995.

House Bill 642 puts a limit of ten consecutive years on legislative leadership roles like the Illinois Senate President, Senate Minority Leader, House Speaker and House Minority Leader.

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With research showing state spending grew 30% faster than Illinois’ median household income over the past decade, a new bill would tie spending in Springfield to growth in household income.

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Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday clarified statements from his chief of staff, a day after she said the state was headed for a full reopening this summer.

“I think we both hope that we are going to be in a place to move to Phase 5 in the beginning of the summer,” Caprara said. “I always hesitate to say definitively where we are going to be because we have now ridden through several rises and falls of COVID cases.”

“I wouldn’t characterize it as saying that the reopening starts as the summer starts,” Pritzker said.

Pritzker once again said there are metrics to meet, including about 5 million Illinoisans, or 50% of the state’s population older than 16, needing to be fully vaccinated. According to the New York Times Vaccine Tracker, 19% of people in Illinois are fully vaccinated.

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