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It was an historic year in Illinois. Longtime Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan was pushed out of his job amid a scandal. The state adopted new laws dealing with criminal justice and energy policy. Democrats approved new political boundaries. And while Illinois rolled out its COVID-19 vaccination program, the pandemic cast a shadow over the entire year.
Five-hundred new COVID patients were admitted to Illinois hospitals between Sunday and Monday — a number that represents a quadrupling of COVID patients hospitalized in Illinois since a late-October lull in the pandemic after the state’s battle with the Delta variant in late summer.
As more hospitals report ICU beds are filling up, the holidays will likely see additional transmission of the virus as people gather. At the same time, the severity of the rapidly spreading Omicron variant remains unclear.
The primary is still half a year away, but the 2022 Illinois governor's contest is starting to heat up. There were reports this week that Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin is considering a bid. The Republican field already has four candidates who have announced, but there is speculation Irvin would gain financial backing from billionaire Ken Griffin.
Just a couple of months ago, more than 50,000 electronic witness slips were filed in opposition to a proposed legislative change to the state's Health...