Page 2 - Pat Doerr News Today

Chicago bars and restaurants such as Baker Miller and Hopleaf applaud vaccination requirements for customers as the omicron variant of the coronavirus surges.

Sun-Times file Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to require liquor, grocery and convenience stores to cut off liquor sales at 10 p.m. is “not written in stone,” a top mayoral aide said Thursday, opening the door to pushing back the deadline or eliminating it entirely. “The hours that are in this package — that is an introduction. … This is a starting point. … This is not a closed door. This is not a done deal,” Business Affairs and Consumer Protection Commissioner Rosa Escareno told t...

Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can safely gather maskless in most settings, indoors or out. But will the immunized be allowed to ditch the masks inside Chicago bars and restaurants? Not quite yet. City officials on Friday said they expect to “broadly follow” the CDC’s new bare-faced guidelines, but local officials are still ordering face coverings to stay on at establishments while ...

Shot and a beer bill would allow free drink for the vaccinated Bars could participate in vaccination campaigns with offers of free beer under a bill introduced Tuesday in Springfield. Associated Press Michael Zalewski Free booze with your COVID-19 vaccine? It soon could be possible in Illinois. Legislation filed by Riverside Democratic state Rep. Michael Zalewski would allow Illinois bars to offer free drinks to people who have received the COVID-19 vaccine as long as its part o...

by Greg Bishop, The Center Square  | April 15, 2021 05:00 PM Print this article Associations representing employers throughout Illinois asking urging lawmakers to use some of the $7.5 billion the state is getting in federal funds to replenish the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund. Following the beginning of the pandemic and the governments restrictions on economic activity, there have been historic levels of unemployment. Billions have been paid in ...

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times file City officials pulled a fast one last weekend, dyeing the Chicago River green after days of denying the St. Patrick’s Day tradition would take place with COVID-19 still lurking. But for revelers hoping the city flip-flops again and loosens restrictions at bars on the actual day of the normally green beer- and whiskey-soaked holiday — they’ll have no such luck. City liquor license holders have been reminded to enforce coronavirus guidelines for St. Paddy’s on ...

SPRINGFIELD — The grant program for small-business owners in Illinois who suffered losses during the pandemic has run out of money. Illinois’ Business Interruption Grant program was the largest state program of its kind, but only about 20%, or 8,974 applicants, received a grant. Just over $9 million in those funds came to the Peoria area. There were 243 grants provided to businesses in the Tri-County Area — almost $6.2 million split between 161 Peoria County businesses; just over $2....

Credit Blueroomstream.com The grant program for small businesses owners in Illinois who suffered losses during the pandemic has run out of money. Illinois’ Business Interruption Grant program was the largest state program of its kind, but only about 20 percent, or 8,974 applicants, received a grant. The Illinois General Assembly created the program using federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, money. The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity...

The state has run out of money for its Business Interruption Grant program, which aimed to help small businesses walloped by COVID-19, and some restaurant operators are not happy. The program launched over the summer, and supplies federal funds from the CARES Act. The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity administered the first round of grants in August, and started distributing a second round in the fall. […] Restaurant operators that were not chosen said they are frustrat...