Business News

Veterans, active military and their spouses will be eligible to receive free training at Lincoln Land Community College for a career in truck driving, thanks to a federal grant just announced. LLCC is one of 20 institutions in the nation and the only one in Illinois to be awarded a U.S. Department of Transportation Commercial […]

Forty-six million dollars in grant funding has been awarded to more than 2,600 small businesses throughout Illinois who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including $590,000 earmarked for 35 businesses in Sangamon County. The funding comes from the Business Interruption Grant (BIG), which is part of the federal CARES Act. Twenty-four Springfield-area businesses received […]

Sikich announced that it has signed an asset purchase agreement to acquire the operating assets of Heinold Banwart, Ltd., a public accounting firm based in the Peoria area. The move expands Sikich’s presence in central Illinois. “The Heinold Banwart team adds valuable talent to our group and strengthens our position as a leading service provider in […]

IDES says federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program is ripe for abuse By Peter Hancock, Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com The Illinois Department of Employment Security said Wednesday it has been affected by a nationwide fraud scheme involving the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program. That program, enacted as part of the federal CARES Act, provides 100% federally […]

By Karen Ackerman Witter Mark Vasconcelles and Mark Henderson share more in common than having the same first name. They are both sons of engineers who learned from their fathers at a young age how to hold a survey rod and went on to lead the firms their fathers started. Vasconcelles’ father founded Vasconcelles Engineering […]

Facebook announced today that the tech company’s newest worldwide data center will be built in DeKalb, Illinois, bringing an investment of more than $800 million. The Facebook DeKalb Data Center will be among the most advanced, energy- and water-efficient data center facilities in the world, supporting an estimated 100 operational jobs and hundreds of construction […]

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor JB Pritzker will issue an Executive Order cancelling the Illinois and Du Quoin State Fairs this year.  The annual State Fairs, which attracted over 600,000 visitors combined in 2019, will return in August 2021. “The Illinois and Du Quoin State Fairs have been some of my favorite opportunities […]

By Katie Davison, Innovate Springfield, and Lisa Clemmons Stott, Downtown Springfield Inc. More than 1400 Sangamon County residents responded to a survey this week gauging how they are feeling heading into today’s Phase 3 reopening. They are ready to get their haircut and visit the doctor. A majority plan to wait longer to visit a […]

New jobless claims in May appear to level out By Peter Hancock, Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com The unemployment rate in Illinois reached a staggering 16.4 percent in April, the highest rate recorded since the modern system of tracking joblessness began in 1976, the Illinois Department of Employment Security said Thursday. The previous record of 13.9 […]

By Rebecca Anzel, Capitol News Illinois ranzel@capitolnewsillinois.com Unemployed Illinoisans will soon have access to free, online skills-based training programs. Beginning in June and lasting through the end of the year, 3,800 courses and 400 specializations will be offered by over 160 universities through the online learning platform Coursera, Gov. JB Pritzker said Thursday. Formal certification […]

Judge previously granted temporary restraining order on its implementation By Jerry Nowicki, Capitol News Illinois jnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com A state commission voted to repeal a new rule that would have made workers’ compensation benefits available to essential employees who contracted COVID-19 without having to prove the illness was contracted at the workplace. The Workers Compensation Commission repealed […]