As a public service, Shaw Media will provide open access to information related to the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) emergency.

Illinois regional health centers are expected to receive the first shipment of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 10, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Ngozi O. Ezike told county and municipal leaders from across the state during a conference call Thursday morning.

The longest-serving state legislative leader in the United States and one of the nation’s last political bosses is fighting to keep his job as a growing number of fellow Democrats say they will not support him for another term in the midst of a swirling federal investigation that has led to charges against several confidantes.

Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan has held the Speakership for 35 of the last 37 years, interrupted only by a two-year window of Republican control in the mid-1990s. He has maintained power by carefully delivering for his core constituency, the Chicagoland Democrats who make up the bulk of the state House caucus.

But now, Madigan’s future is in jeopardy. Nineteen of the 73 Democrats who will be sworn into office next month have said publicly they will not support Madigan for another term, enough to deny him the 60 votes he would need to win election.

The heat is being turned up another notch for Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan to resign.

This came on the same day as four defendants appeared in U.S. District Court in a ComEd corruption case with ties to the speaker.

A top Republican lawmaker suggests he’s in the best position to become the next Speaker of the Illinois House.

With the latest arraignments of figures in ComEd’s federal Bribery case, Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin said it’s time for Speaker Michael Madigan, the alleged target of the scheme, to resign as Speaker and Representative.

“Both, I am asking him to leave the General Assembly,” he said.

All of the revenue generated by the city’s newly approved 2020-2021 property tax levy is projected to go to fund pension costs, after the share of this revenue for the Mattoon Public Library’s general operating costs is obligated.

The Mattoon City Council voted Tuesday to approve a levy that will seek $4.79 million in tax revenue. City Finance Director Beth Wright said Wednesday she estimates the levy will bring in $4.67 million after the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law in effect in Coles County is applied.