The 217 Today Podcast

217 Today: Friday March 19, 2021

Brian Moline and Olivia Butts
 
Gov. JB Pritzker gives an update on the state's COVID-19 response Thursday from the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago. He announced all of the state's residents outside of Chicago will be vaccine eligible beginning April 12, and he added a bridge phase to his reopening plan.

Gov. JB Pritzker gives an update on the state's COVID-19 response Thursday from the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago. He announced all of the state's residents outside of Chicago will be vaccine eligible beginning April 12, and he added a bridge phase to his reopening plan. Screenshot/Illinois.gov

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Friday March 19, 2021

Today’s headlines:

  • A healthcare bill spearheaded by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus has passed out of the State House on a party line vote.

  • Representative Chris Miller of Oakland has been censured by his colleagues in the Illinois House for attending the so-called "Save America" rally on January 6th that would later become a violent attempted insurrection on the U.S. Capitol.

  • The Champaign City Council voted unanimously this week to put up honorary street signs in front of the City Building in recognitionof the Black Lives Matter movement, but at least one council member isn't impressed.

  • Champaign-Urbana public health officials are reporting just over 1,000 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine were administered Wednesday. About 25 percent of the county's vaccine-eligible population is now fully vaccinated.

In today’s deep dive, Governor JB Pritzker has announced a new “bridge plan” to move Illinois from phase 4 to phase 5 of its reopening. We get details on the plan from Statehouse editor Hannah Meisel.

217 Today is produced by Olivia Butts. Reporting today contributed by Hannah Meisel, Christine Hatfield, Jim Meadows, and Sean Crawford.