The 217 Today Podcast

217 Today: Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022

Brian Moline and Farrah Anderson
 
The Illinois State Capitol building in Springfield.

The Illinois State Capitol building in Springfield. Reginald Hardwick/Illinois Newsroom

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Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022

Today's headlines:

  • Illinois lawmakers won’t be coming back to Springfield next week because of spiking COVID-19 cases amid the spread of the Omicron variant.

  • People should look into swapping their cloth masks for surgical masks or N95 masks, according to Illinois State Medical Society President-Elect Clarence Brown. 

  • Illinois likely just experienced its fifth warmest December on record.

  • Public Health officials reported 913 new COVID-19 cases in Champaign County Wednesday. The number of active cases hit another all-time high with 5737.

Even as Illinois has shifted to more of a blue state politically, more of its counties are voting Republican. In today's deep dive, we’ll take a closer look at these “two Illinoises" created by political polarization throughout the state.

217 Today is produced by Farrah Anderson. Reporting today contributed by Dave McKinney, Steph Whiteside and Dana Cronin.