The U.S. Senate is expected to vote by Jan. 17 on whether the chamber will adopt new rules to circumvent the draconian filibuster to enable voting rights and social justice bills, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced on Monday, Jan. 3.
The Joliet City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved taking the next step toward getting a National Register Historic District nomination for the Old Joliet Prison.
The council voted to spend a $35,000 grant it received from the National Park Service to hire Chicago-based Ramsey Historic Consultant Inc., to prepare the National Register Historic District nomination for the Illinois State Penitentiary – Joliet (later renamed Joliet Correctional Center, commonly known as the “Old Joliet Prison”).
Demolish or redevelop? That is the question for Will County board members to consider when it comes to the now-vacant, more than 50-year-old Will County Courthouse in Joliet’s downtown. The board was set to consider a timeline for demolition of the old courthouse building at 100 W. Jefferson Street at its meeting scheduled for Jan. 20. However, that has now been changed due to a proposal being floated to redevelop the old courthouse, which is near the new $215 million courthouse, which opened in 2020 and was built on the former First Midwest Bank site, on the southwest corner of Ottawa and Jefferson streets. A partnership has been formed and a proposal submitted to the county board to consider a public-private redevelopment of the old courthouse building.
The Will County Center for Community Concerns is offering a limited number of $1,000 scholarships to income-eligible residents of Will County. Scholarship funding is provided by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Community Service Block Grant.
The Joliet City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved taking the next step toward getting a National Register Historic District nomination for the Old Joliet Prison.
The rolling seven-day test positivity rate for Will County hit 21.9 percent on Dec. 30, according to Will County Health Department Spokesman Matthew Bedore. The Illinois Department of Public Health on Tuesday reported 125,375 COVID cases for Will County, 1,184 more cases than what was was reported on Monday.
AT&T Illinois has donated $20,000 to the Will County Children’s Advocacy Center through the CAC’s Corporate Partnership Program. AT&T has been a member of the program since its inception in 2017, and this year’s contribution was at the highest, “Hero” tier.
To prepare for a likely surge of post-holiday Omicron COVID-19 cases and to prepare for a potential shortage of staffed ICU beds, Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Health and Hospital Association are urging hospitals to take every possible measure to maintain and expand bed capacity, including postponing non-emergency surgeries and other procedures as needed and without risking patient harm.
COVID numbers are high throughout Illinois as the rolling test positivity rate on Wednesday reached 13.2 percent and total cases spiked to more than 2.1 million, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. Reported COVID-related deaths in the state hit 27,734.
As 2021 comes to an end, it’s time to look back on the year and reflect a bit on some of the significant stories from the region.
While there is no way to touch on all the big stories of 2021, let us take a brief look at five of them.
1. Will County receives millions in COVID relief
In March, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, a $1.9 trillion COVID relief plan to provide funding to assist in getting the country back on its feet. While Will County received more than $120 million in funding in 2020 through the CARES Act, it received $133 million in American Rescue Plan money. The county received half of that funding this year, and it is expecting to receive the other half in 2022. This time around, larger communities, such as Joliet and Bolingbrook, received direct funding payments (albeit much less than what the county received) from the federal government. Joliet city officials have said they want the county to share some of its funding with the city, but county officials have yet to dole out any of that second round of COVID relief funding. Many residents throughout the county are eager to know where the bulk of the funding will go. In November, Mike Theodore, spokesman for the Will County Executive’s Office, told The Times Weekly that while the funding will play a large part in county-wide recovery from the pandemic, it has yet to be decided how the funds will be allocated. More to come in 2022.
The high cost of rent and fierce competition for vacant properties has led to an increase in rental fraud, with many people turning to online social media groups to find apartments, and some even sharing the cost of an apartment with friends or family.
