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Will and Kankakee counties became the latest part of the state to allow for indoor service at restaurants and bars, after the state loosened COVID-19 restrictions on Thursday.
Indoor dining may be back in some Chicago suburbs as Will and Kankakee counties are expected to move to Tier 1.
Friday was the first day of no indoor dining in the Chicago suburbs as COVID-19 restrictions are rolled back out, and some businesses are defying the governor's orders.
Now, tables are socially distanced. Masks are over familiar faces that finally returned. People are now spending money amid dropping sales. Many just took their business across the county border.
Bars and restaurants in Will and Kankakee counties will be able to resume serving customers indoors at 5 p.m. on Friday, as Gov. JB Pritzker lifts tougher COVID-19 mitigations that were imposed on that region of Illinois last month, due to rising virus cases.
"I'm hopeful that Region 7 might become a testament to the community's ability to turn the ship around in the right direction," Pritzker said.
Starting Wednesday, all customers at restaurants and bars in Illinois must wear a mask covering their mouth and nose whenever they are interacting with waitstaff and other employees; including when placing orders, when food or drinks are brought to their table, or when picking up a carryout order.
Meetings along with social gatherings must be limited to 25 people or 25% capacity.
A gold coin worth over $1,000 was dropped into one of The Salvation Army red kettles in Kankakee County.
Police in Kankakee County didn't have to stage a raid to find one wanted fugitive – it just so happens that all it took for him to surrender was a PhotoShop request.
The posts, which have since been removed from Twitter and Facebook, featured a picture of the "Make America Great Again" slogan imposed onto a red Ku Klux Klan mask, along with the words "What's the difference between a Klan hood and a MAGA hat? The Klan hood was made in America."
Mussman's Back Acres egg farm, located in Kankakee County, reported a chicken coop fire around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday. Mussman's is a wholesale egg distribution facility.
The sudden disappearance of retired high school teacher Daniel Jarski last weekend has sparked massive search efforts.
Jeremy Boshears, 32, has been charged with a felony count of concealing a homicidal death in the shooting death of 24-year-old Kaitlyn Kearns.
Kaitlyn Kearns, of Mokena, was reported missing Tuesday. She was last seen alive leaving her job tending bar in Joliet early Monday.
Kankakee sculptor George Grey Barnard had formed the 10-pound plaster hand from a picture of Lincoln before crafting a statue.
Four men are dead at two different crime scenes. But police now think they're related.
Detectives in Kankakee County were investigating four homicides over the weekend in rural Pembroke Township, including a triple homicide Sunday afternoon.
On April 1, Kamron Taylor escaped from the Jerome Combs Detention Center after attacking a guard who was making rounds.
The Kankakee County State's Attorney's office was reviewing mountains of evidence, as authorities try to piece together exactly how a convicted killer escaped the county jail, and made it to Chicago before he was captured.
Authorities have increased the reward for information leading to the arrest of a convicted killer who escaped from a Kankakee jail earlier this week.
A massive manhunt continued early Thursday in central Illinois, a day after a 23-year-old convicted killer escaped from a Kankakee County jail by overpowering a guard and donning his uniform.
A manhunt was underway in Kankakee County on Wednesday, after a convicted killer escaped from the county jail.
Microsoft Corp. says it has agreed to buy electricity from a new wind farm in Illinois for the next 20 years in an effort to reduce its carbon footprint.
Jasbleidys Hernandez details how life has been for her and her children after her husband was arrested by federal agents last October.
Chicago cut Milwaukee's lead to 90-84 late in the third quarter, but couldn't get any closer.
Chicago police said the boy was in fair condition after being grazed by gunfire in the Austin neighborhood on Tuesday evening.
Gurnee police said the woman hit two people with a car before attacking a third victim in what they call "random acts of violence."
Following a historic win at the Grammys, Bad Bunny will take the stage for the Super Bowl LX halftime show.
Hillary Clinton will appear for a deposition on Feb. 26, while former President Bill Clinton will appear on Feb. 27, according to the House Oversight Committee.
The House on Tuesday voted 217 to 214 to fund major parts of the government and end the partial shutdown.
All federal immigration agents in Minneapolis will begin wearing body cameras, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said Monday, a policy that could be rolled out nationwide.
With U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi giving up his seat in the House to run for the Senate, voters in Illinois' 8th Congressional District face a crowded ballot in the Democratic primary on March 17.
With U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly giving up her seat in the House to run for the Senate, voters in Illinois' 2nd Congressional District face a crowded ballot in the Democratic primary on March 17.
This week marks Identity Theft Awareness Week, and Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza emphasized some safety tips Monday for avoiding and dealing with identity theft.
A controversial data center in Naperville, Illinois, could be the cause to pack a city council meeting there on Tuesday night.
Police in the west Chicago suburb of Geneva are warning of a scam involving spoofed phone numbers.
Protesters on Tuesday were cranking up the heat on Peoples Gas over a recently proposed rate hike that would add an additional $10 to $11 a month to utility bills.
A lawsuit filed late last month took Chicago-based McDonald's to task over the McRib sandwich, calling its name a form of false advertising.
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital announced this week that it is planning to open a new pediatric hospital in the west Chicago suburb of Downers Grove.
It has been nearly six years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and one of the many questions doctors are still working to answer concerns the long-term effects.
Leaders from Cook County, the Illinois Department of Human Services, and the Greater Chicago Food Depository denounced changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program on Wednesday.
The University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center has received a grant from The Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation for a new cancer center.
Chicago's Lurie Children's Hospital said Tuesday that it is no longer initiating gender-affirming medical treatment for minors.
January may be the coldest time of the year, but Chicago is already looking forward to summer farmers' markets.
A development proposal issued this month calls for the replacement of a building housing a Giordiano's pizzeria in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood with a new mixed-use building with 28 residential units.
United Airlines flight attendants picketed outside Chicago's Willis Tower Thursday morning as they fought for a new contract.
WSCR-AM, 670 The Score, will begin a simulcast on 104.3 FM next month.
Does the Chicago Bears' dramatic improvement this season, culminating in their first playoff run in five years, change the discussion about where they will build a new stadium?
Chuck Negron, a founding member of Three Dog Night whose lead vocals powered a string of hits for one of the top rock acts of the late 1960s and early '70s has died. He was 83.
Bad Bunny used his Grammy acceptance speech on Sunday to denounce U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and call for the end of the ongoing immigration crackdown.
The 2026 Grammy Awards recognized the best of the best in music from last year, with big wins for Kendrick Lamar and Bad Bunny. Here's the full list of winners and nominees.
Complete closure of the performing arts center in Washington, D.C., will start on July 4, Mr. Trump said. It's not yet clear how extensive the changes to the building might be.
Music's biggest night returned Sunday with the 68th annual Grammy Awards. Here is how to watch and stream and what to know.
Chief Meteorologist Albert Ramon is tracking warmer temperatures by late week with a February thaw.
Omar Bautista Carvajal was arrested by federal agents on Oct. 4, as he was heading to his weekly Saturday English class in Carol Stream. Now, his family faces uncertainty about when they will see him.
Grace Bentkowski, 22, was struck and killed in late July by a South Shore Line train at the Hegewisch station on July 25, 2024.
A woman was found shot to death in the UI Health parking garage in the Illinois Medical District. Meanwhile, in a separate incident, three men were shot, two fatally, near a White Castle less than a mile away.
The victim was taken to Loyola Hospital in fair condition, police said.
Courtney Drysdale was shot and killed while opening up the bar she owned near the Illinois-Indiana state line.
Jasbleidys Hernandez details how life has been for her and her children after her husband was arrested by federal agents last October.
Safety changes are coming to the South Shore Line after a crash that took the life of a local journalist on Chicago's Southeast Side.
Chicago police said the boy was in fair condition after being grazed by gunfire in the Austin neighborhood on Tuesday evening.
Gurnee police said the woman hit two people with a car before attacking a third victim in what they call "random acts of violence."
Cynthia Eason recounted the moment Chicago police officers raided her family's home in 2018.
Water bills could be going up in several Chicago suburbs and other parts of Illinois, as Illinois American Water seeks a rate increase to fund infrastructure improvements.
The case involves a Chicago grandmother, her daughter, and her four grandchildren, who all said that Chicago police officers pointed guns at them during the botched raid.
Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel no longer will have to testify about an alleged "code of silence" at the Chicago Police Department, after a federal judge reversed an earlier ruling that would have allowed him to take the stand in a lawsuit over a botched police raid.
John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, the busiest trauma center in Illinois, is sounding an alarm, as doctors brace for an influx of patients because of federal funding cuts under the Trump administration's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act."
Chicago cut Milwaukee's lead to 90-84 late in the third quarter, but couldn't get any closer.
The Chicago Bulls are sending center Nikola Vučević to the Boston Celtics in exchange for guard Anfernee Simons, and the teams will also swap second-round draft picks as part of the deal.
Davis was the first player in the program's history to win the Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year.
The Detroit Pistons have agreed to acquire Kevin Huerter from the Chicago Bulls in a four-player, three-team deal, according to two people with knowledge of the trade.
The Northwestern Wildcats won't play in their new $862 million football stadium until their third home game of the 2026 season, when they'll host their Big Ten home opener at the new Ryan Field on Oct. 2.
A woman was shot to death in an apparent domestic incident in a UI Health parking garage, UIC Police said Tuesday.
A suspect was taken into custody on Tuesday for the deadly shooting of a bar owner, Courtney Drysdale, in Momence, according to the Kane County Sheriff's Office
The man whom Jill Biden divorced for the eventual 46th President of the United States is now in jail on murder charges.
Investigators are combing through the house of "Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy, in search of clues to the 84-year-old's disappearance.
Prosecutors said Sharon Charitine Sackman, 52, gave the counterfeit weight loss drugs to three people in Chicago in 2023.
