Illinois in Focus

Illinois is one of six states in the U.S. that still has a statewide mask mandate and is the only state east of the Mississippi that still has such a requirement. Gov. J.B. Pritzker implemented an executive order to re-introduce a statewide indoor mask mandate on Aug. 30, to help slow the spread of COVID-19 amid an increase of cases from the delta variant.

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Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed changes to the Health Care Right of Conscience Act he said will allow for COVID-19 mandates to be enforced at the workplace.

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Large employers in Illinois, and across the country, now have Jan. 4 to have employees comply with President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate and the Illinois Chamber of Commerce is bracing for the fallout.

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Changes are coming to a state law prohibiting discrimination against people for conscientiously objecting to medical procedures in the name of enforcing COVID-19 mandates, but the changes won't go into effect until July 1, 2022.

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The weeks’ top stories about court action on maps and masks and the fallout from vaccine mandates. Plus, we’ll get commentary from The Center Square Publisher Chris Krug and Executive Editor Dan McCaleb about those issues and more

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Gov. J.B. Pritzker has been working to change the Health Care Right of Conscience Act, which some have invoked in the fight against COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

The 1998 Health Right of Conscience Act bans discrimination because of such persons' refusal to receive or participate in any way in any particular form of healthcare services contrary to his or her conscience.

Some have said the law allows people to avoid getting the COVID-19 vaccine and evade Pritzker's executive order mandating vaccination or regularly testing for health care workers, educators and other state employees.

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Gov. J.B. Pritzker had an indoor mask mandate in place for more than a year until he let the order expire in May. He then re-instituted a mask mandate in July for all indoor gatherings. On Monday, he couldn’t say what the benchmark would be to lift the mandate.

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Truth In Accounting (TIA) evaluates state governments for how much debt states have versus how much they bring in. For Illinois the amount owed per taxpayer went from about $30,000 in 2009 to $57,000 in the most recent report which released Tuesday.

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YouTube removed videos of an Illinois school board's meetings because of public comments challenging COVID-19 policies, a problem one state lawmaker wants to fix with a bill that he said would reduce social media censorship.

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Three children in Effingham County can’t be forced to wear masks without an official quarantine order from the county health department, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Later in the day, a different judge enjoined an entire school district from requiring masks without a court order.

The attorney who brought the cases anticipates more such cases across the state.

Earlier this month, attorney Thomas DeVore won several cases on behalf of parents of school kids being kept from in-person learning because of possible COVID-19 exposure.

Courts in multiple counties said only county health departments can issue quarantine orders.

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