During the second quarter of 2021, U.S. consumers added $45.7 billion in credit card debt, an all-time record that nearly erased the paydown achieved in the first quarter, according to a new report by personal finance website WalletHub. Consumers are now projected to end the year with a net addition of $100 billion in credit card debt, which far exceeds the 10-year average of $45.6 billion.

This added debt follows a record-setting reduction in credit card debt in 2020 that continued into the first quarter of 2021. However, the second quarter is the second-straight quarter of regression in consumer performance after six straight quarters from the second half of 2019 through all of 2020 of progression in performance.

The Illinois House late on Thursday passed an energy bill with nearly $700 million in incentives for two Exelon Corp nuclear power plants, taking the legislature one step closer to saving the plants the company has threatened to close starting on Monday.

“What the House has accomplished tonight is monumental and life changing for the future generations of Illinois,” said House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, a Democrat. “Illinois is on the path to a greener future that prioritizes a reduction in carbon emissions, saves jobs, diversifies the energy sector and tackles necessary ethics reform.”

In the past few weeks the Illinois Department of Employment Security has opened more offices across the state for in-person appointments, but only one in Chicago.

One state representative and some consumers told the ABC7 I-Team they want more options as demand for financial help persists.

As temperatures begin to slowly drop and as the days continue to get shorter, many residents in Illinois are beginning to get the sense that fall is in the air, and along with the new season comes the realization that daylight saving time is nearing an end.

The “springing forward,” done each March to give residents an extra hour of daylight, will soon come to an end, but when exactly are you going to gain that extra hour of sleep?

On Aug. 13, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a new law impacting covenants not-to-compete and non-solicitation agreements (as to both employees and customer solicitations) in the state of Illinois.

Public Act 102-03581 will take effect on Jan. 1 and will police all such agreements entered into on or after that date. Prior to the signing of the act, the validity of noncompete and non-solicitation agreements in Illinois was decided by the courts under Illinois common law and the prior version of the Illinois Freedom to Work Act, effective Jan. 1, 2017.