Quick Hits: Illinois News In Brief For Feb. 17, 2022

The Center Square:

Students segregated over masks

Some Illinois high school students say they were segregated at school for going maskless.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker insists masks are still mandated in schools despite an Illinois circuit court judge ruling the mandate null and void and a legislative panel blocking the rule.

Several students without masks at Collinsville High School say they were told they would not be going to their classrooms and to separate themselves from other students. Some were sent to the library, but when the number of students increased to around 50, they say they were sent to the school auditorium.

Several states have announced plans to roll back mask mandates for school children in recent weeks, including Oregon, Delaware and New Jersey.

Employees blocked from decertifying their union

As union decertification votes in the workplace continue to increase, some Illinois firefighters are appealing a ruling blocking their right to end their relationship with a union.

A ruling by the Illinois Labor Relations Board blocks an attempt by firefighters in Carpentersville to leave the union. Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation, said the firefighters appeal exposes numerous errors with the basis of the decision.

Illinoisans moving to Indiana

Illinoisans are heading over the border to live in Indiana.

Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Stacker compiled a list of where people from Illinois are moving to. The Hoosier state topped the list, followed by Florida, California, Texas, and Wisconsin. The data is from the year 2019.

Immigrant detainees moved out of Illinois

Immigration detention has come to an end in Illinois after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement transferred those awaiting deportation to facilities outside of the state.

Officials said as of Feb. 5, there were not any more people in ICE custody in Kankakee and Woodstock, the last two facilities in Illinois housing ICE prisoners. The inmates have been transferred to jails in Indiana, Texas and Oklahoma.

Chicago rideshare drivers tenth rudest

According to the ride-sharing app Uber, riders in Chicago are among the rudest in the country.

The Uber rankings are determined by the average rider ratings provided by company drivers. When ranking passengers, they considered whether they arrived on time, were courteous to drivers, and if they left garbage in the vehicle. New York City was voted as having the rudest passengers with Chicago coming in 10th.

San Antonio, Texas, had the nicest riders followed by St. Louis.

Big game betting tops $60 million in Illinois

Illinoisans wagered over $60 million on this year’s Super Bowl. That is $15 million more than last year’s game.

The state’s casinos and sportsbooks kept $9.5 million as revenue, a considerable increase from a year earlier, which generated $1.4 million in tax revenue for the state.

Sports bettors have wagered more than $7 billion in less than two years since sports betting was legalized.

The focus of the work of The Center Square Illinois is state- and local-level government and economic reporting that approaches stories with a taxpayer sensibility. For more stories from The Center Square, visit TheCenterSquare.com.