When NBC 5 Responds caught up with Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul last July, he showed us the debit card that showed his name was used by con artists trying to tap into his unemployment benefits. This month, we asked Raoul how his case turned out.
“Well, you know for me, I didn’t know what was going on because it was early in the process, Raoul said. So I was unaware, even as the Attorney General … of the scope of the fraud taking place.
“Unaware” as we all were. Now we know that nationally, Raoul’s name was one of thousands swept up in a massive case of unemployment benefits fraud. The US Department of Labor now estimates at least $63 billion was paid out improperly in claims. Much of that was fraud, according to an audit by the US Department of Labor s Office of the Inspector General .
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WLS) The Illinois Department of Employment Security is asking for millions more dollars in its budget after an unprecedented year.
Wednesday marks one year since IDES closed its offices across the state. What followed was a chaotic scramble to handle a historic surge in applications for unemployment benefits. Now, the agency is asking for millions as it seeks to re-open. For fiscal year 2022, the department is requesting $450.4 million all-funds appropriation including a $133.9 million increase in federal funds spending authority over the current fiscal year, said IDES Acting Director Kristin Richards at today s Senate Budget hearing.
Her agency is one of the very few approved by Governor JB Pritzker to ask for money.
Tuesday marks the one-year anniversary of Illinois’ first reported death from COVID-19. In the next 12 months, Illinois would go on to report nearly 21,000 more confirmed COVID-19 deaths, while more than 1.2 million Illinoisans have been infected so far.
But last week, the number of adults in Illinois who have been fully vaccinated overtook the number of people who have ever tested positive for the virus, and more than 20% of the state’s population has received at least one vaccine dose. Over the last week, Illinois has been averaging more than 100,000 shots administered per day.
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Gov. JB Pritzker says that’s cause for optimism but he’s careful to add that Illinois is not yet out of the woods, especially with three types of more contagious COVID variants spreading in Illinois. Officially, there have been 99 cases of the virus related to these more contagious variants first identified in the UK, South Africa and Brazil, though the actual number is likely
Tuesday, Mar 16, 2021 Gov. JB Pritzker did several interviews with reporters yesterday. Subscribers have my report, but here are some highlights from the others. Mary Ann Ahern at NBC 5…
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said while he anticipates opening up vaccine eligibility - particularly in the months ahead to meet President Joe Biden’s deadline of having all adults eligible by May 1 - the exact timing of Illinois’ expansion isn’t clear.
“No announcements yet about what 1C would look like, I just think that people should start to think very much about you know the fact that we’re going to open this up to everybody relatively sooner than I think people expected,” Pritzker said during the interview Monday. “Certainly by May 1 and we’ll do it sooner than that I believe in the state of Illinois.”
Pritzker Reflects On COVID-19 Year: The Politics Will Take Care Of Itself In The End peoriapublicradio.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from peoriapublicradio.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.