Quick Hits: Illinois News In Brief For June 12

From The Center Square:

By Greg Bishop

Jun 12, 2020

Missouri plans to fully reopen on Tuesday

While Illinois is still weeks away from Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s fourth phase of a five phase reopening plan that still has restrictions on business operations and gathering sizes, Missouri is set for a full reopen Tuesday.

Gov. Mike Parson said at some point government has to get out of the way to let people live their lives and regulate themselves. He encouraged people to continue social distancing.

Pritzker says Illinois should stick with his reopening plan

Today is the day many elected officials across the state want to open more things up amid public health concerns of spreading COVID-19, but Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the state is on the right track and has to stick to his plan.

Appearing on WMAY Thursday afternoon, the governor said he’s following the incubation periods, and said the next 14 days are crucial for determining if recent large gatherings lead to any kind of spike in hospitalizations and case rates.

Total cannabis sales in Illinois top $191.4 million

For the first two full months Illinois was on stay-at-home orders, out-of-state cannabis consumers bought more than $17.7 million worth of weed.

That’s according to the latest sales data published by state regulators. So far, since the drug was legalized for adult use in January, total sales for cannabis in Illinois have topped $191.4 million.

Cannabis sales top $44 million in May

Illinois’ pot shops have been open the entire time other businesses have either been shuttered or severely limited because of COVID-19 concerns, and they’ve been doing well.

State regulators announced more than $44 million in recreational pot sales for the month of May, making it the most successful month of sales since they began in January.

In the two full months of the COVID-19 shutdown, consumers bought more than $81 million worth of weed products. Taxes paid on that can be north of 40 percent.

Springfield best place to live post-pandemic, Business Insider says

Springfield, Illinois, topped Business Insider’s list of top 30 cities to live in after the pandemic.

The publication looked at over 380 U.S. metro areas with a variety of stats and found Illinois’ capital city had a low unemployment rate before the pandemic and nearly 43 percent of jobs can potentially be done from home.

Bloomington ranked No. 4, Champaign No 5, Peoria No. 28 and Danville rounded out the list at No. 30.

Joliet mayor says he won't resign

Joliet Mayor Bob O’Dekirk is ruling out resigning from office after he was shown on video physically moving a man during a recent protest. More than 36,000 people have signed an online petition for him to resign.

O’Dekirk said he was confronted by a quote “rioter,” and immobilized “the attacker.”

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