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After 3.5 hours of discussion from members of the Joliet City Council, directors of NorthPoint and the beginning of public comment, the council unanimously to suspend the public hearing until tomorrow. With nearly 300 members of the community that signed up for the call-in public comment section, the meeting is too much even for two sessions. The meeting will be called back to order at 9 a.m. Tuesday morning and will go until 11:30 a.m. at which council will break to allow for...
The Village of Romeoville will be hosting a very special birthday themed park party this summer. The guests of honor will be Romeoville kids who had to celebrate their birthdays at home during the COVID-19 Stay At Home order. "It's tough for kids to not be able to celebrate a birthday with their friends and extended family," said Mayor John Noak. "We are going to give them their party this summer and invite the whole community!" More details will be available when the social...
Following an extension of the shelter in place order by Gov. J.B. Pritzker until April 30, Joliet Mayor Bob O'Dekirk held a briefing in which he assured residents that, "The city of Joliet is not going to shut down." On April 2, O'Dekirk issued his second declaration of Local State of Emergency. The declaration gives the city new measures to handle local meetings, such as cancellation of non-essential committees, the moving of the pre-council meeting to the same day as the reg...
In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Village of Romeoville will be providing each household in the village with a $50 rebate. This will appear as a credit on the June water bill. A total of $600,000 will be given back to the community during this challenging time. Romeoville offered its first rebate program in 2011 in order to assist residents recovering from the Great Recession. This will be the largest assistance program in Romeoville's history. "Through our...
In light of the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the economy, many Joliet area businesses are wondering how they can acquire funds from the CARES Act to help the local business and local employees. While the government has not released full details yet, local Joliet area resources are already springing to action to help local businesses. Professors at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, in cooperation with the Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce, quickly prepared a...
The 12th annual "Hugs for Hounds" doggie Easter egg hunt has been canceled, and the "Found Objects Sculpture Trail" has been postponed due to the new coronavirus pandemic. Shorewood HUGS, in partnership with the Forest Preserve District of Will County, had scheduled the 2020 "Hugs for Hounds" for April 11 at the Hammel Woods Dog Park in Shorewood. According to a Facebook post by Shorewood HUGS: "It is with heavy hearts that Shorewood HUGS has decided to take a 'pause' while...
As state leaders try to gather as much personal protective equipment (PPE) as possible to distribute to health care workers treating COVID-19 patients, Gov. JB Pritzker says the federal government sent Illinois 300,000 of the wrong type of mask. In his daily press briefing about the novel coronavirus disease outbreak Monday in Chicago, Gov. JB Pritzker said the state's third shipment of relief supplies from the feds arrived Sunday, but likely includes 300,000 surgical masks...
Plainfield South High School Spanish teacher Mary Jones is making fabric masks for area health care facilities during the mandated school closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Jones, who has worked in District 202 since 2001, made 20 fabric face masks with a free kit from Joann Fabrics. Health care facilities across the country need these fabric masks because of a shortage fueled by the virus outbreak. Jones, whose mom taught her to sew at when she was a child, returned the fi...
As the spread of COVID-19 continues throughout the region, Silver Cross Hospital continues to see a dramatic increase in the number of COVID-19 patients at its New Lenox campus. As of April 1, the hospital has 40 inpatients who have tested positive for COVID-19, with another 28 patients classified as persons under investigation (PUIs). That brings the total inpatient population of confirmed and suspected COVID-19 cases at Silver Cross to 68. All 68 patients remain...
Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Wednesday the formation of a new relief fund to support artists and performers who have been temporarily put out of work by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Arts for Illinois Relief Fund will provide financial assistance in the form of grants to artists, artisans and cultural organizations that have been impacted by the virus. The fund is a partnership between the city of Chicago, the state of Illinois and several charitable foundations. Pritzker highlighted the new fund...
Beginning April 2, The Morton Arboretum will be temporarily closed through April 30 as an additional measure to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The Arboretum made its 1,700 acres available for essential outdoor activity as long as it was safe and prudent to do so. The proactive, full closure of the Arboretum's site is to ensure social distancing in support of public health. The safety and well-being of Arboretum visitors and employees is top priority. We look forward to...
SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois department tasked with overseeing unemployment benefits is employing an alphabetized schedule to handle “an unprecedented volume” of claims. Claims now must be filed online and by phone on days and at times set by the Illinois Department of Employment Security based on the first letter of the filer’s last name. Similar systems to manage “increased web traffic” and “high call volumes” were initiated in Colorado and New York as well, according to the department. Illinoisans whose last names begin wit...
SPRINGFIELD – Public K-12 schools statewide were instructed to begin remote learning days Tuesday until in-person instruction can resume, and standardized testing in the state is canceled for the year as well. Illinois Superintendent of Education Dr. Carmen Ayala was given the authority to define and give guidance on remote learning days in a recent executive order signed by Gov. JB Pritzker in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. All schools public and private will be closed t...
Beginning Monday, March 30, the Will County Health Department will be continuing operations but closing its doors to both clients and staff. “For the safety of our clients and staff, and due to the number of Coronavirus cases we are working on, we have decided it is safest to work remotely,” said WCHD Executive Director Sue Olenek. In addition to the WCHD main building at 501 Ella Avenue in Joliet, WCHD staff at 323 Quadrangle Drive in Bolingbrook and 5601 W Monee-Manhattan Road in Monee will also be working remotely. The...
Plainfield School District 202 informed parents today on some topics that have come in question around the COVID-19 shutdown of schools. As of now, all 'right of passage events' such as prom, graduation and eighth grade promotion have been postponed, but not cancelled. District 202 will decide whether to cancel or move these events at the time the state decides if/when school will resume. District 202 this week suspended tuition payments for the time-being for full-day...
District 202 Superintendent Dr. Lane Abrell, Dave Stephens, Plainfield High School-Central Campus principal, and Dr. Glenn Wood, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction hand out Remote Learning packets to families on Monday, March 30, 2020 at the Administration Center, 15732 S. Howard St. Packets also will be distributed from 1-5 p.m. Tuesday, March 31, 2020. District 202 encourages students to engage in remote learning online or with these paper packets for...
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation issued guidance for lenders and borrowers Monday regarding debt collection during the COVID-19 pandemic. Evictions are suspended for homes and rental units in Illinois per an executive order by Gov. JB Pritzker, and IDFPR is urging all mortgage servicers to defer payments for 90 days for those suffering hardship as a result of the pandemic. The department also highlighted a recent executive order suspending repossession of vehicles during the duration of a...
Chief Judge Evans extends postponement of most court cases, orders video appearances systemwide Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans today entered an order that extends the postponement of many criminal and civil cases in the Circuit Court of Cook County through May 18. The order also expands the use of videoconferencing for all court proceedings deemed necessary or emergencies during this time. The Office of the Chief Judge has been working with the justice system stakeholders – the sheriff, clerk, state’s attorney and public defend...
Mistwood Golf Club and McWethy's Tavern are a family run business, but just how large that family is has been illustrated in the last couple of weeks after Illinois Governor JB Pritzker closed of all dine-in restaurants in Illinois on March 17. The closure of the restaurant forced the elimination of jobs for many of the employees. "As soon as the order was given that restaurants had to close, there were no jobs for hourly employees. The jobs didn't exist and we take the...
The social distancing guidelines that led Illinois county fairs to cancel off-season events on their grounds through the end of April is one part of a financial impact double-whammy, a trade official said. Many local fairs use revenue from off-season events and activities to “pay the bills,” said Ken Tyrrell, president of the state’s Association of Agricultural Fairs. Guidelines from Gov. JB Pritzker’s office regulating the number of people allowed to congregate shrank...
Gov. JB Pritzker announced new measures benefitting the homeless and people on supplemental nutrition programs Friday and continued to pressure the federal government for further, centralized action in response to COVID-19. At the same daily briefing in Chicago, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike announced 488 new confirmed cases of the virus and eight more related deaths in Illinois. Pritzker said the state is also working on collecting numbers of...
More than 114,000 workers in Illinois filed first-time unemployment claims in the week ending March 21 as the United States saw its biggest one-week spike in recorded history. 3.2 million workers filing for benefits. The U.S. Department of Labor said the seasonally-adjusted number was due entirely to the COVID-19 outbreak, which has forced bars and restaurants to close, halted public gatherings and severely restricted travel across the country. The department said economists...
The District 202 Board of Education is recognizing 19 exceptional educators, staff and community members through its 28th annual Awards of Excellence program. The annual awards ceremony was scheduled for April 8, 2020 but has been postponed because of the COVID-19/Coronavirus pandemic. “Even though we can’t honor these exceptional people in a public ceremony this year, we are still very proud and grateful for the talent, hard work and commitment shown by each of this year’s winners,” said Board of Education Vice Preside...
As part of its ongoing effort to inform the public of the measures being taken to combat the spread of COVID-19 within the Cook County Department of Corrections (DOC), the Cook County Sheriff’s Office will provide regular updates on the number of detainees who have been confirmed positive for the virus, the number confirmed negative, and the total number tested. As of 5 p.m. on March 26, a total of 89 detainees in DOC custody have been tested for COVID-19 after exhibiting flu-like symptoms. Of those, 24 detainees have t...
On Wednesday, March 25, District 99 donated a variety of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) supplies to Good Samaritan Hospital. The supplies were taken from reserves of the custodial and science departments at Downers Grove North High School and Downers Grove South High School. “We realized that everyday items in our reserves would be valuable on the front line, and reached out to our local partner Good Samaritan Hospital to arrange to donate the items,” said Dr. Hank Thiele...