The Latest Breaking News from Illinois

CHICAGO — Nearly 10,000 women traveled from out of state to have an abortion in Illinois in 2020, a roughly 29% increase compared with the previous year, according to the most recent Illinois Department of Public Health data available.

The state’s $45 billion in capital projects through the Rebuild Illinois initiative in 2019 included $4 billion in pork-barrel projects that were slipped in without any public input, the BGA reported.

Although patients hospitalized with COVID-19 remained high at 5,238 occupied beds — a daily total reached last year on only a handful of days — it still meant 2,100 fewer patients hospitalized with the virus than when Illinois hit its record high on Jan. 12.

CHICAGO — One morning in March 2021, at a nursing home in Evanston, resident Velta Saint registered an alarmingly low 44% oxygen level in her blood. Normal levels range from 95% to 100%, and one study recommends hospitalization for any patient with a reading below 90%.

Paul Vernon Hoeffer, 60, also pleads guilty in federal court to threats against Kim Foxx, a prominent district attorney in Illinois

The state has averaged 107 deaths per day over the past week, a stretch that saw Cook County lose a total of 425 residents to the virus — the worst week since mid-November 2020.

With abortion access increasingly restricted across much of the South and Midwest, two Illinois clinics near St. Louis on Friday announced a new logistics center to help abortion seekers get to their clinics

CHICAGO — Each year, thousands of women cross state lines to have an abortion in Illinois — and that number could grow exponentially as pending U.S. Supreme Court decisions and new laws in various states challenge reproductive rights across large swaths of the nation.

The $45 billion statewide capital plan includes nearly $4 billion in projects added by a handful of the state’s most powerful politicians, including the former House speaker.

Goalby, a father-of-three, died in his hometown of Belleville, Illinois

While cases and hospitalizations are falling, Illinois is still losing 109 lives on average each day. About 14 of every 109 live in the city, the vast majority unvaccinated. "Let me be very clear: There are still more than 200 Chicagoans being newly admitted [to hospitals] every day with COVID-19,"…