The Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates are trimming payroll while they await word on the fate of the Major League Baseball season.

Record high unemployment spotlights the economic devastation caused by the pandemic. Gov. J.B. Pritzker says his administration is focused on safely restarting the economy and shoring up the unemployment insurance system.

One of the city’s new testing sites is about to open in Englewood. It’s a community that has been hit hard by disinvestment and high rates of crime over the years.

Among the measures approved by the City Council is one that makes it illegal for workers to lose their jobs if they become ill with COVID-19. “Employees should not have to choose between keeping their jobs or saving their lives,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.

Millions of shuttered businesses nationwide have turned to their insurers to help recoup their losses following state-mandated closures, which combined may exceed $300 billion a month. But insurers have widely rejected the claims.

The number of people seeking help from the Greater Chicago Food Depository and affiliated food pantries has surged 60% since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, which has shut down the nation's economy and thrown tens of millions of people out of work. 

As Illinois faces record levels of unemployment, the state has launched a website aiming to connect job seekers with employers and provide free online access to workforce development courses.

Approximately 4,500 small businesses on the South and West sides applied for $5,000 emergency grants to help them stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic, city officials announced Thursday.

A day after celebrating its 90th birthday, the Adler Planetarium laid off 120 part-time and full-time employees. The “difficult decision” was made “in order to help the Adler survive,” spokesperson Jennifer Howell said in a statement to WTTW News. 

Ald. George Cardenas, 12th Ward, says he doesn’t agree that Chicago businesses and restaurants should be forced to stay mostly closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The state’s stay-at-home order is still in effect. Restaurants are still closed — and so is the lakefront path. Illinois hospitals are once again welcoming non-coronavirus patients — and the revenue they bring.

He’s a familiar face, thanks to his PBS program “Mexico: One Plate at a Time.” And his food is familiar too, thanks to his multiple restaurants. Chef Rick Bayless talks about what the industry needs to stomach the pandemic.

In a 24-hour period from Monday to Tuesday, the state conducted nearly 30,000 coronavirus tests and confirmed another 4,014 cases of COVID-19. “The more you test, the more positive cases you find,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said.

Illinois is seeking to create an “army” of contact tracers, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said earlier this month. A suburban college is hoping to meet that demand.

Illinois was expected to reach its COVID-19 peak between late April and early May, but new projections show it could come as late as mid-June. Gov. J.B. Pritzker called the news “disheartening” but said it’s the result of a flattened curve.

Amid the pandemic, Chicago employers will still be forced to give their workers two weeks’ notice of their schedules starting July 1, but will be spared lawsuits for an additional six months under a measure that advanced Monday.