With the state’s “cabin fever” escalating and warmer weather looming, Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday unveiled a five-part reopening plan — with the stern warning that life won’t go back to normal any time soon.

Tempering that message even more, the governor released his “Restore Illinois” plan on the same day the state suffered its largest number of COVID-19 deaths in single day — 176 more Illinois residents lost to the coronavirus.

The coronavirus pandemic hit Illinois’ economy with a vengeance in April, sending state revenues plummeting by more than $2 billion.

The legislature’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability said revenues dropped by $2.74 billion compared to a year ago. The drop also wiped out all of the better-than-expected revenue gains the state had made up to that point.

Illinois delayed the planned auction of $1.2 billion of short-term debt as it faces record-high penalties to borrow on Wall Street because of the deep financial hit the state is being dealt by the coronavirus shutdown.

The worst-rated state had planned to sell about $1.2 billion of short-term tax-exempt general-obligation debt on Wednesday, its first borrowing during the pandemic, to ease the revenue shortfall in the last two months of the fiscal year. The deal has been moved to “day-to-day status,” meaning it will be sold if market conditions warrant.

It’s not just the 177 Illinois state legislators who would need to come back to the Illinois State Capitol to vote on legislation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lawmakers would also need staff members, security and other personnel to return to conduct business.

The legal sale of marijuana during Illinois’ first full month of lockdown due to the coronavirus surpassed sales in two previous months, state officials announced Monday.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation reports April adult-use cannabis sales totaled more than $37.2 million. A little over $7.5 million of sales at the state’s 50 recreational marijuana dispensaries were to out-of-state residents.

The coronavirus pandemic just made Fritz Kaegi’s job a lot tougher.

It’s hard enough for the Cook County assessor to estimate what a property is worth during normal times. Try doing it in the middle of an economic shock that has shut down hotels, emptied out shopping malls and forced apartment landlords to provide rent relief to jobless tenants. And with unemployment soaring to what some fear could be Depression-era levels, who knows what will happen to home values?

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday she’s “not ever gonna cut back on public safety” — no matter how much city revenues plummet because of the stay-at-home shutdown of the Chicago economy — but she’s worried about a cutback in state aid to Chicago.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has projected a $2.7 billion shortfall for the current state budget and a $4.6 billion gap for the fiscal year beginning July 1. With short-term borrowing to get through the coronavirus pandemic, the total shortfall for the fiscal year 2021 budget would be $6.2 billion when compared to the budget that Pritzker released in February.

Sales of newly built homes fell locally in the first quarter, according to a report, pushed down by the arrival of the COVID-19 crisis in March, typically the strongest month of the year.

In the first three months of 2020, builders sold 994 new homes locally, down more than 12 percent from the first quarter of 2019, according to a data compiled by Tracy Cross & Associates. It was the lowest first-quarter sales tally since 2012.

The director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources said opening of the state’s parks and recreational areas “went extremely well” over the weekend.

State parks and land were opened May 1 in select areas, including Buffalo Rock State Park, Illini State Park and the Illinois and Michigan Canal Trail in La Salle County.

The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County has cut back on seasonal hiring and could dip into reserves because of lost revenue from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before the crisis, the district was anticipating $70.9 million in revenue for its fiscal 2020 budget, which took effect Jan. 1. Now it expects to lose roughly $700,000 in revenue from permits and fees, in part because it had to cancel education programs. The district’s three golf courses also are expected to make less money.