The announcement comes one day after the Office of the Chief Judge announced the extension of a modified court schedule postponing most criminal and civil cases across the Cook County court system into July.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle backed an effort Wednesday to give property owners a bit of financial “breathing room” by waiving late fees on second-half property tax bills due Aug. 3.

As with many other local governments, COVID-19 is hurting Cook County’s bottom line. County Board President Toni Preckwinkle says the county could be facing a projected budget shortfall around $260 million. 

A conversation with Cicero Fire Chief Dominick Buscemi, who is part of the town’s emergency committee handling the pandemic response. 

Even though state parks are set to reopen May 1 with restrictions, Chicago’s lakefront will remain closed, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.

About 70% of Illinois’ COVID-19 deaths are in Cook County. As a result of the pandemic, the medical examiner’s office opened an off-site morgue to deal with a surge in deaths.

First responders, health care workers and correctional officers are on the front lines of the pandemic, and “we owe it to them to provide a safe place to quarantine,” said Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle on Saturday introduced Dr. Rachel Rubin as incident commander and Dr. Kiran Joshi as the assistant incident commander of the Cook County Department of Public Health’s operations

Cook County is bracing for a surge in coronavirus-related deaths. We check in with Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who is not sick but chose to self-isolate after a member of her security detail contracted the virus.

So far, 307 people have died in Illinois after testing positive for the coronavirus — numbers which stand to strain not only the health care system, but the system for dealing with the deceased.

The chorus frog has been filling forest preserves with the sound of its mating calls. Here’s why that’s such good news.

More than 150 people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Cook County Jail. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said the situation poses the “biggest health problem in the county.”

Most trails remain open in Cook County’s forest preserves, offering people a respite from home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic, but that could change if people congregate like they did along Chicago’s lakefront. 

Illinois State Sen. Iris Martinez has won the Democratic primary for clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court. Martinez topped the four-way race with 31.4% of the vote. 

In her victory speech Tuesday night, the Cook County state’s attorney said there was an effort to make the primary election about one celebrity case (without specifically calling out Jussie Smollett) but that “the voters have overwhelmingly put that fallacy to rest.”

In Illinois, 11 people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to state and local health officials. “I want folks to understand this is going to affect your daily life,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at a Monday news conference.