Early this week more counties were appealing to Illinois Governor JB Pritzker to reopen the state, and both Randolph and Monroe Counties approved resolutions this week.
On Monday, May 18, the Monroe County commissioners passed a resolution that asked for relief from the governor’s Restore Illinois Plan.
On Tuesday, May 19, the Randolph County commissioners passed a resolution in support of opening small businesses.
By Wednesday, it was announced that the governor’s office had repealed their controversial emergency rule to punish businesses that reopened early with fines and/or jail time. Also, the governor announced that he was amending Phase 3 of the state reopening plan.
Currently, all four regions of the state are on track to move into Phase 3 on Friday, May 29.
Among the changes to the reopening plan were: bars and restaurants can reopen for outdoor seating only; hair and nail salons, spas, barbershops and tattoo shops to reopen; all retail stores can reopen for in-person shopping; all state parks to reopen; reopening of indoor and outdoor tennis facilities; foursomes on the same team for golf; and up to 10 persons boating or camping. Social distancing, safety precautions and capacity limits will be applied.
For more, please see this week’s print edition, next week’s edition and the News’ Facebook page.