State health officials Monday reported 3,870 COVID-19 patients were being treated in hospitals throughout Illinois, a 26.1% decline from a week ago.

Of those hospitalized, 684 were in intensive care; that’s 24.4% fewer than one week ago, according to Illinois Department of Public Health data.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker will propose a one-time, $1 billion tax relief package when he unveils his proposed fiscal 2023 budget Wednesday, joining the wave of leaders of Democratic and Republican-run states in looking to tap surging tax collections to provide temporary or permanent cuts.

Pritzker’s proposal would double the existing $300 income tax credit for property owners at a cost of $475 million to state coffers, suspend a 1% tax on groceries at an estimated cost $360 million, and hold steady the state’s 39.2 cent per gallon motor fuel tax at a cost of $135 million.

The State of the State will take focus Wednesday in Springfield as Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is expected to lay out his vision for the coming year.

Small business advocates are watching for what the state Legislature could do this year. Those concerned with public safety are also watching.

Some Illinois parents are urging their kids to go to school without a mask today to protest Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s statewide mask mandate.

Context: The protest unfolds as a Sangamon County circuit court judge prepares to rule on a lawsuit against 146 Illinois school districts — mostly downstate but including CPS — that challenges the mandate.

Even though it’s fairly quiet now, come Tuesday night into Wednesday morning that’s all going to change as a winter storm is forecasted to hit Illinois.

This storm is expected to bring the most snow we’ve seen this whole season.

Legislative leaders have canceled Illinois House and Senate sessions this week, expecting the season’s biggest winter storm to make “difficult if not impossible” travel conditions in Central Illinois and elsewhere around the state.

The forecast calls for several inches of snow, combined with icy conditions and 30 mph winds in Central Illinois.

Advocates and Illinois state lawmakers are making a push to end a gas utility surcharge that allows companies to raise customer heating bills in order to pay for infrastructure projects.

The surcharge, known as the Qualified Infrastructure Plant (QIP), became law in 2013 after similar legislation was passed for utility giant Commonwealth Edison.