East Peoria mayor planning to reopen city on Friday

CHICAGO - “If some of the businesses in East Peoria are re-opening, I think they're running the risk that they're gonna infect people who work there,” said Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.

The governor is saying "not so fast" to a central Illinois mayor defying the stay-at-home order. Pritzker warns business owners in East Peoria could lose their state licenses and even their insurance coverage.

As multiple officials in central Illinois tell retailers they can re-open this week, the governor countered with a bottom-line argument sure to give any business owner serious second thoughts.

“You may have business insurance, but you will be subject to liability. Because it would not surprise me if insurance companies are found to not be required to cover when you are defying essentially state law or a state executive order,” Pritzker said.

Not to mention the state of Illinois’ ability to suspend or revoke licenses for shops that provide everything from hair care to on-premises food and liquor.

“There’s an issue with the economy. And it's been devastating. Nobody is talking about it,” East Peoria Mayor John Kahl said last Friday.

A plainspoken former U.S. Marine and longtime anti-tax crusader, Kahl was elected last year as mayor of East Peoria’s 23,000 residents. Since the pandemic, he has cut the budget 15 percent, even laying off public safety workers.

“We swore an oath to the people who elected us, right? And that's what this is about. We have got to move forward. We have got to re-open things, get people back to work,” Kahl said.

“The only way we can beat this virus is by social distancing, and obeying the orders that've been put in place,” Pritzker said.

The governor has indicated he does foresee some less-populated parts of Illinois re-opening before the Chicago area.