Governor JB Pritzker announced the closure of bars and restaurants to indoor dining in southern Illinois and warned other regions of the state could soon follow.

As the state listed 34 of Illinois’ 102 counties, a full 1/3, to the state warning list for high positivity rates of the coronavirus, Governor JB Pritzker announced the state is already “in a new wave” of the disease.

State candidate fundraising reports were due at midnight Thursday into Friday, and the cash disparity between Democrats and Republicans leaves many GOP legislators and candidates in a precarious position heading toward Election Day.

The state has brought in more than $100 million in tax collections since recreational use of marijuana was legalized at the beginning of the year. September collections on August sales topped $20 million for the first time.

Governor JB Pritzker and Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike are urging families to hold smaller Thanksgiving dinners and Christmas or other holiday gatherings.

House Democrats appear to be using anonymous Facebook pages to promote Democratic candidates and to attack Republican contenders ahead of the November 3 election. But, whether the ads flout state law may be up for debate.

Lake County Democrats have chosen a replacement for former State Senator Terry Link, who resigned amid tax evasion charges.

Illinois’ richest person already made a splash this fall donating around $40 million to defeat the Governor’s proposed graduated income tax amendment, now he’s making a splash to remove an Illinois Supreme Court justice.

After a Cook County Judge denied a motion from the Libertarian-leaning Illinois Policy Institute Friday to block the graduated tax constitutional amendment, a spokesman says the effort “continues to its next legal phase.”

Following more than a full month of bars and restaurants closed to indoor diners in the Metro East region of the state around St. Louis, a decrease in the coronavirus positivity rate has rolled back state mitigations in the region.

There’s little to make you think State Representative Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville) is at any risk of losing his seat in November in a district President Trump won by around 37 percentage points in 2016. But his opponent shook the earth a little rolling out an endorsement from Halbrook’s daughter, Ashli Crowe.

The two sides of the battle over changing tax rates in Illinois have started a new battle over taxing retirement income in the state.

A billionaire Republican donor came under fire in some circles Wednesday after she supposedly tweeted about the Illinois graduated tax constitutional amendment with negative connotations about workers. But a spokesman says she doesn’t have a Twitter account.

Republicans lashed out at Rep. Emanuel Chis Welch (D-Hillside) Tuesday, the Chairman of the Special Investigative Committee charged with looking into House Speaker Michael Madgian’s role in a long running bribery scheme from utility Commonwealth Edison after Welch reportedly delayed any further hearings until after the November 3 election.

With four weeks to go before Election Day, a source tells The Illinoize internal polling shows the proposed constitutional amendment to change Illinois’ income tax system from a flat tax to a graduated income tax is currently failing.

28 counties around Illinois are on the state warning list for high COVID-19 positivity rates. Two of the new counties on the list are home to two of Illinois’ public universities.

Following her announcement Thursday she was planning to challenge House Speaker Michael Madigan for his job, State Representative Stephanie Kifowit (D-Oswego) spent about 15 minutes with The Illinoize discussing her decision to challenge Madigan and why.