CHICAGO – Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) will be making a significant payment of $450 million toward the remaining $1.8 billion borrowed under Title XII of the Social Security Act. Due to continued historic low unemployment insurance claims, the unemployment insurance trust fund has the capacity to make this payment without impairing the department’s ability to pay benefits. This is the second significant contribution to the outstanding loan balance. In March of 2022, Governor Pritzker signed legislation that provided a historic $2.7 billion contribution from American Rescue Plan recovery dollars to assist the state’s unemployment trust fund. This payment cut the original $4.5 billion loan balance down to $1.8 billion. “This contribution is direct evidence of labor market strength in Illinois,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “With unemployment claims levels continuing to reach historic lows, the State’s
A registered child sex offender is behind bars after he reportedly violated terms and approached children at a birthday party in Maplewood over the weekend.
ST. LOUIS - The Gateway Arch will once again host Frights & Heights, a family-friendly Halloween costume party, on Saturday, October 15! The Arch hosted the inaugural Frights & Heights back in 2019, but the event didn’t happen in 2020 or 2021 due to the pandemic. Frights & Heights features the haunted Tram Ride to the Top as well as activities such as face painting, creepy crafts, balloon animals, live DJ entertainment, puppet shows, and much more. This event will take place at the Gateway Arch from 6:30 to 10 p.m. Tickets are available online at gatewayarch.com/Halloween or by calling 877-982-1410.
Illinois' governor says the state’s relatively low jobless rate will help him keep his promise to eliminate debt in the state fund that pays unemployment benefits.
BARNHART, Mo. - A Missouri scratchers player won a $50,000 prize after playing the $50 “Millionaire Blowout” game. The ticket was purchased at the On the Run gas station on Catlin Drive in Barnhart. The player claimed the prize at the Missouri Lottery's regional office on September 13. Prizes in the Millionaire Blowout game range [...]
Emerson Electric is the latest U.S. company to exit Russia amid the country's war with Ukraine. The Ferguson-based company (NYSE: EMR), a diversified conglomerate that makes automation products and provides other engineering service, has turned to its Russian employees to take over its operations there.
Three months after becoming the first St. Louis-area store to unionize, workers at the Ladue Starbucks held a one-day strike on Saturday. Employees tell the RFT they have seen their hours drop as a result of their unionization efforts. The shortened shifts have led to fewer workers on the floor, causing longer wait times for customers and overwhelmed workers.
The Wall Street Journal reports that lumber prices have plummeted back to their pre-pandemic levels: Lumber prices have fallen to their lowest level in more than two years, bringing two-by-fours back to what they cost before the pandemic building boom and pointing to a sharp slowdown in construction. ....Two-by-four prices nearly tripled the prepandemic record ...continue reading "The cost of lumber has plummeted"
A trial on the state’s restricted Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood will be delayed until December, after the reproductive health care provider was given permission Tuesday to drop five counts in its lawsuit against the Missouri Department of Social Services. Cole County Circuit Court Judge Jon Beetem Tuesday granted Planned Parenthood’s motion to amend its […]
BELLEVILLE - Illinois American Water announced that applications are now being accepted for the company’s Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Grant Program. Through this program, Illinois American Water will dedicate funding to community organizations for the purpose of advancing inclusion, diversity and equity related initiatives. “Illinois American Water is committed to fostering inclusion, diversity and equity not only in the workplace, but also in the communities we serve,” said Justin Ladner, president of Illinois American Water. “By focusing on meaningful partnerships which support inclusion, diversity and equity, we can help make a difference for our customers – our friends and neighbors. This is important to us as a company, as well as to our employees who deliver critical water and wastewater services across Illinois.” The grant program provides financial assistance to organizations seeking to develop and implement programs, training or community-related
Sky-high crime rates in the city of St. Louis are one reason the region has experienced little growth, writes St. Charles County's leader, Steve Ehlmann. He lays out what lawmakers in the state's capital, Jefferson City, must do to fix the problem, including appointing just one prosecutor to cover both the city and St. Louis County.
This project was completed with the support of a grant from Columbia University's Ira A. Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights in conjunction with Arnold Ventures. This morning the Post-Dispatch reported that a former teacher facing charges of statutory rape died yesterday while in the custody of the St. Louis County Jail. A corrections officer found Brandon Holbrook, 30, unresponsive in his cell around 4 p.m.
Kirkwood administrators banned 14 books in response to a new state law, the third-most of any school district in St. Louis County after Rockwood and Lindbergh.
Yesterday, the attorney general of Texas—the top law enforcement officer in the state—made an idiot of himself trying to avoid a process server who was delivering a subpoena for a federal court hearing today. Ernesto Martin Herrera, the process server, tells the story. Be sure to read to the end. When Herrera arrived at Ken ...continue reading "Texas attorney general is afraid of the long arm of the law"
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