A new report from an Illinois think tank says the state was ill-prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily because of a pre-existing shortage of nurses, and that the pandemic has left state even more vulnerable in the event of another public health crisis.

The report, by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit organization with strong ties to organized labor, also argues the state would be in a better position if nurses at more hospitals were unionized and if the state adopted a law requiring mandatory minimum nurse staffing levels, an idea that was proposed in the 2019 legislative session but was not adopted.

Because there hasn’t been video gambling since mid-March due to COVID-19 restrictions, state and local tax coffers are out more than $105 million dollars compared to last year, but those machines at your local pub can be fired back up soon.

The Illinois Gaming Board is allowing casino and video gaming to resume starting Wednesday.

After another jarring weekend of gun violence in Chicago left 18 people dead — including three children — and 47 others wounded, Chicago Police Supt. David Brown announced Monday that 1,200 additional officers will hit the streets over the historically violent Fourth of July weekend.

Starting Thursday, the surge in additional officers will be deployed in “hotspots” for violence throughout the city, according to Brown, who acknowledged that “tired cops make mistakes” and said he will make sure every officer gets a day off.

With fireworks readily available in neighboring states, a state senator says it’s time to legalize them in Illinois.

State Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, has attempted to get a bill passed on more than one occasion, but can’t get Democrats to come on board.

In early April, as the state of Illinois was being hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. JB Pritzker issued an executive order on coronavirus protections focused on the 37,000 inmates locked up in state prisons.

That April 6 executive order said “the vast majority” of those inmates were “especially vulnerable to contracting and spreading COVID-19” because of their “close proximity and contact with each other.”

The Chicago Police Department’s Bureau of Internal Affairs and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability are investigating 371 complaints filed against officers for their response to protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police, records show.

A majority of complaints — 56% — alleged that officers used excessive force during the protests, according to the data released by COPA. Another 25% of complaints alleged that officers violated the 4th Amendment by improperly searching them, according to the data that detailed protest-related complaints from May 29 to June 11.