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.
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Legal expert takes closer look at new laws for Illinois
More than 300 new laws are set to take effect on Jan. 1. Gwen Daniels, deputy director of Illinois Legal Aid Online (ILAO), the state’s largest non-profit online legal aid resource, has provided some perspective on some of the laws that could have most impact.
New automated Vote-By-Mail system coming together for Clerk’s office
Will County Clerk Lauren Staley Ferry earlier this week accepted the first major piece of equipment to automate the Vote By Mail program in Will County. The high-speed, state-of-the-art EvoluJet Printer from BlueCrest has the capability of printing 2,200 ballots per hour. Specialists from BlueCrest and the manufacturer, Kyocera, were on hand to assemble the EvoluJet’s components and make the necessary adjustments to begin printing test ballots on location at the Will County Clerk’s Office. The EvoluJet Printer will be joined by two other major pieces of equipment: The high-speed Relia-Vote MSE Inserter will automate the assembly of Vote By Mail packets, and the Relia-Vote Vantage Sorter will streamline the sorting of Vote By Mail packets for outbound mailing and for organizing return ballots. These three machines will improve efficiency and accuracy across the entire Vote By Mail program. They also will save Will County taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars each election compared to the cost of assembling and processing Vote By Mail Ballots manually. Staley Ferry announced back in August that the Will County Board had unanimously approved $1.9 million in funding to purchase equipment to automate her office’s growing Vote By Mail program.
Kwanzaa celebration continues through Jan. 1
The principal practiced on the forth day of Kwanzaa (December 29) is Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)
Upholding the principle and practice of Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) teaches us the essential value of shared work and shared wealth and the right of everyone to a life of dignity and decency. It urges us to cultivate a kinship in and with the world, to reject artificially created conflicts between a robust economy and a rightful relationship with the environment. And it teaches respect of the earth as shared sacred space and common good, not to be plundered, polluted and depleted by corporation greed and aggression and consumerist consumption without consideration of consequences to the world.
Dr. Maulana Karenga, founder of Kwanzaa
World dignitaries react to death of Bishop Desmond Tutu
Long before Nelson Mandela won his freedom from 27 years of imprisonment fighting apartheid in South Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu earned the moniker “the nation’s conscience.”
White and Black residents of the popular African nation lauded the bishop for his relentless fight to unite races and end the racist system of apartheid.
South Africa’s leading advocate for change and reconciliation under a Black majority rule and the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Bishop Tutu, died in Cape Town on December 26 at the age of 90.
Will County’s test positivity rate soars to 13.6 percent
COVID numbers in Will County spiked dramatically between December 18th and December 24, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
White House announces the National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking
The updated National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking responds to this predatory behavior by addressing the needs of underserved individuals, families, and communities. As such, officials said it reflects the administration’s commitments to gender and racial equity by taking action against the systemic injustices that communities experience, including underserved populations.
CDC: Test positivity rate for Will County nears 10 percent
Due to the holiday, new reported COVID numbers from the Illinois Department of Health will not be available until this week. However, according to the Centers for Disease Control, the test positivity rate as of Dec. 26 for Will County was 9.8 percent.
First major piece of equipment for vote by mail counting system arrives in Will County
Will County Clerk Lauren Staley Ferry announce recently that the Will County Board has unanimously approved $1.9 million in funding to purchase equipment to automate her office’s growing Vote By Mail program.
Residents mixed on how they will celebrate the holiday
The recent surge of COVID numbers is putting a damper on the holiday spirit for many in the local area.

