COVID-19
Continued progress towards “Phase 4” reopening. Phase 4 of the State’s “Restore Illinois” plan will allow the limited reopening of restaurants and bars. Schools and universities will be allowed to reopen with social distancing. Health and fitness clubs, swimming pools, and other public facilities will be allowed to reopen under strict guidelines. The movement to Phase 4 is made necessary by the fact that many Illinoisans have jobs that depend on these activities, and that a growing number of Illinois residents now understand the danger of this virus and how to protect themselves and others from transmitting or catching it.

The Illinois Department on Aging (IDoA) has extended the deadline for accepting nominations for the 2020 Senior Illinoisans Hall of Fame Awards to August 31, 2020.  These awards recognize adults, 65 years of age and older, and highlight the meaningful contributions they have made in Illinois.

Award nominations are being accepted for the following categories:

Some sporting figures just endure for generations. A hundred years after he played, if you ask who the greatest baseball player who ever lived was, you’ll probably hear a mention of Babe Ruth. If you ask about the greatest track star, someone will likely put forth Jesse Owens. In Illinois, although there are a great many candidates, if you are looking for the name of the greatest football star, you’re sure to hear about Red Grange.

A legend at the University of Illinois a century ago, and then in the early days of the Chicago Bears, Red Grange earned the nickname “the Galloping Ghost” for his ability to elude the grasp of defenders who might as well have been grabbing at thin air.

PUBLIC SAFETY
Protests and looting break out; state of emergency declared in fifteen Illinois counties. The declaration followed numerous statewide incidents of looting in the wake of protests. While these protests were sparked by the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, many voices are now being raised concerning the overall state of race relations in the United States. The disaster declaration accompanied the deployment of hundreds of National Guard troops to strategic locations throughout Illinois. 

The State of Illinois is opening its community-based testing sites to anyone to get tested, regardless of symptoms or other criteria. As we move through the Restore Illinois plan, and into a full reopening of the state, testing will be crucial to identifying new cases and taking immediate action to prevent additional spread.

No appointment, doctor referral, or insurance is needed at state operated drive-thru sites and testing is available at no cost to the individual.

The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) is recommending anyone who has recently been part of a mass gathering, including rallies and protests over the past week, get tested for coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The virus has been found to spread between people up to a couple days before people start showing symptoms. Because of this, the number of people an infected person could unknowingly expose can be exponential.

A list of public and private testing sites can be found on the IDPH website at http://www.dph.illinois.gov/testing.

Severe weather is always a threat in the spring and summer months and it is important to be prepared and have a plan in place to protect your family.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) recommends a few new items be included in your emergency supply kit, including face coverings for every member of your family, hand sanitizer, and disinfectant wipes. Other items to include in a basic emergency supply kit are: water, food, NOAA weather radio, flashlight, batteries, phone charger, and prescription medications. A complete list can be found online at www.ready.gov/kit.

IEMA offers severe weather preparedness information on the Ready Illinois website, a one-stop resource for detailed information about what to do before, during and after disasters. To help Illinois residents prepare for severe weather season, IEMA and the NWS developed a Severe Weather Preparedness Guide that covers flooding, severe weather terms and tips for staying safe.

Captain Daniel V. Gallery, Jr. and Lieutenant Junior Grade Albert L. David.
Photographed on board USS Guadalcanal, June 1944. 

When America entered World War II, a menace lurked off the nation’s east coast. German submarines, called U-boats, had been stalking British and other allied shipping in the North Atlantic since the outset of the war, and upon America’s formal entry into the European war these fearsome warships were sinking American ships, some within sight of the U.S. coast.

One of these U-boats was U-505, a Type IX-C submarine which entered service in the German Navy in 1941. U-505 had an effective first year, attacking and sinking allied shipping off the coast of West Africa and in the Caribbean Sea. The loss of thousands of tons of shipping and cargo to the torpedoes and gunfire from these submarines threatened to starve the British into submission and strangle the war effort.

Something had to be done.